The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-25
Departmental Health Organizing Clinics
Where Those Requiring Medical At
tention Are Treated-Of Children
Examined Seventy-twoP Per Cent. Were
Found With Physical Defects

ease with which they sometimes dis
appear. In fact, a great many parents
believe that the minor diseases Of chill
dren are a necessary part Of the life Of
the child. and IL it does not have them
in childhood 1t will suffer therefrom
worse at n later period.
II is first necessary TO have complete
confidence and cooperation Of the
parents OF school children before eff
fective work can be accomplished. Ac-
cordingiy medical inspectors frequently
have conferences with parents whose
children are found with physical de-
fects. When the child's abnormal con-
dition is discovered. its parents are i'm
mcdiately notified either to come to the
school to consult the medical inspector
or to secure treatment for the child by
the family physician. Little do some
notices of the medical inspector usually
leads to more serious complications
Outraged nature will not be baked
1t will exact heavy retribution In later
life. For physical defects neglected in
childhood frequently assert themselves
in maturity, and cause more serious
troubles which often become chronic.
The child who suffers from physical
defects is usually the poor pupil: the
poor pupil, the untractable child. The
subnormal condition impairs efficiency.
The physically defective school child
is the poor worker, and as most school
children later enter into the intense
competition of industrial life. 1t makes a
great difference whether they are handi-
capped physically in their struggle to
bear the burdens of industry. The boy or
girl who leaves school In an impaired
physical condition to SO to work Is one
who is seldom chosen for the skilled
trades. The unskilled worker Is the
inefficient. intermittent, underpaid
worker who frequently resorts to the
relief organizations to supplement his
meagre wage.
There is little doubt that the largest
single agency contributing to the desti-
tuition in community is i'll health.
Enlightened sentiment now holds that
the wealth Of "a community is in rect
proportion to the kind Of citizens 1t has.
There are some persistent. non-con-
tagious physical defects which assert
themselves in school children regardless
OF social or economic standing. They
are defective teeth. adenoids. enlarged
tonsils. defective vision. on the basis
Of the children examined during last
year there are approximately 100000
school children with defective teeth. II
has been accepted by some OF our great
medical authorities that defective teeth
is one Of the predisposing causes of
tuberculosis. II the New York city
school children with defective teeth
were to go by given point in single
file. II would make more than twenty
four days and nights Of constant
marching to review them. When We
remember that defective teeth cause
intense suffering. poison the food con-
sumed. frequently distort the face and
make the child susceptible to the raw
ages of other diseases as we'll as retard
the child's progress. it will be seen that
the city faces an enormous task In
handling the problem Of bad teeth
alone.
So serious has this condition become
that the Board of Estimate and APP
portionment made in 1913 an appropria-
ton for the establishment Of six dental
clinics with a supervising dentist and
nine operating dentists to attack this
problem. These clinics were apportioned
to the several boroughs as follows:
Manhattan, 2; Bronx, I, and Brooklyn,
3. Investigators Of the Bureau of
Welfare Of School Children Of the
New York Association for Improving
the Condition Of the Poor studied 3,705
card records Of the children who came
to these clinics for treatment. Briefly