Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-04-23
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SCHOOL, NURSES
ARE GREAT AID
MISS MINNIE PATTERSON OF
MINNEAPOLIS DISCUSSES
T.. sYTEM IN THE CITE.
INSPECTION IS EDUCATIONAL
Epidemic Of Measles a. Grand
Forks Responsible for Starting
Work There

~
the topic of a paper by Minnie F. Pat
terson of Minneapolis before the
state nurses yesterday. 1t follows
in part "
The need Of medical inspection and
school nursing has been made very
evident in the splendid paper just
read by a woman who has had ex.
perience in some of our most longest
ed cities, who understands the n
d1tions met with and knows how to
deal with and better them. TO us,
living further in the west, where this
work is still young, this knowledge is
invaluable, as it inspires us with
fresh energy, and makes us realize
more fully the value of public health
service. M - s 4
Inspection In Schools.
Medical inspection and school nurs-
ing work is almost wholly education.
al. 1t is intended primarily to bring
the knowledge Of teachers and par
ents those physical defects Of chill.
dren which stand IN the way of health
and defeat school progress. The
school nurse must he a part of the
school corps, looking after the physi-
cal well:being Of the children, add
ing to their happiness, and increasing
their physical and mental capacities,
theerby rendering Instruction more
effective. t~| ,n
Assist in Control Of Disease.
Medical inspectors and school nurs.
es spend their time largely in looking
for conditions in which a city board
OF health has no Interest. While they
may assist the board of health to
some extent in the discovery and CON
troll Of. contagious and infectious con-
ditions, the final responsibility Of this
matter must rest with the board OF
health. ' q"
OF 1900 school superintendent i'm
cities between $500 and 10000 pop.
ulation replying to a QUESTIONABLE
submitted by the u. S. Bureau Of Ed
ucation, only SIG report medical in!
>spection; Of these SIG cities, only Sc
employ a school nurse. "a,
Epidemic Of Measles.
The yepidemic of5aaeasles In Febrm-
airy, 1913, brought forth the call for d
school nurse in Grand Forks. The
work began with looking up the alb
stntees from school, and i~solating the
children with contagious diseases,
requiring a certificate Of returned
good health from the city health Of
ficer before a child could he allowed
to re-enter school. After the epidem-
,ic had subsidized, the board of educa-
ton found it to be expedient to con-
tlnue the work, and also to examine
such children as were recommended
ny the principal or teacher as being
suspected as having some physical de-
feet causings retardation. This was
done at the end of the school term.
In the autumn, at the beginning of
the school term, a routine examina-
ton of children in each school was
begun bringing to light many serious
conditions that neither child, teacher
nor parent were aware Of. The most
common defects found are defective
vision, defective hearing and breath.
ing, closely connected with enlarged
tons1ls and adenoids, and defective
teeth-defects which produce nervous
troubles lead to %inattentipn, disorder
and loss Of learning power. The
splendid cooperation of the princi-
pals, teachers and city nurses has
had much to do with the c Of
the work. :.
Weeks Program.
You will perhaps be interested to
know the weeks program. There are
six schools in the city and a half a
day a week is spent in each one of
hyeSof them, this bringing the time
up TO- Wednesday noon; the remain
der or the week is spent in routine
examination in the sixth school. In
this way each school Is reached every
week. Cases of delinquency and tru.
any are often looked up.
Causes Of Retardstion.
Irregular attendance, foreign birth,
change of schools, ~unfav0rable home
conditions, illness, lack of application,
low mentality are all contributory
causes of %retardation and not the
least of these is the presence of phys
lcal defects, causing them to progress
slwlo and repeat grades. This is not
only costing the city a great deal of
monty. but the child who repeatedly
fails finds himself at the age of ID,
say, in the 9TH grade,s instead of the |
Sth, and seeing that the prospect of
promotion is still remote drops out
Of school and after that age cannot
be compelled to attend. Children
have been found to improve wonder
fully in their work after being fitted
with glasses before which time they
had exceedingly poor vision. SAM.
tary drinking fountains have been in
stalled in all the. schools In Grand
Forks and paper toweling has been
used exclusively this year.
1t might be interesting to hear of
some conditions 7 have met with in
my school nursing work.
A child 10 years of age was found
to have a tujercular ulcer in the
roof of her mouth. This led to an
of her lungs, which
found to be t%ubercular, though
not badly affected. Her. parents BIZ.
ing financially unable to do anything
her. the local doctors and a den
list gave their services entirely gratis
and an application to the county poor
she was taken to the
state tuberculosis sanitarium at Dun
seth, in May, 1913, where she is at
the present time greatly improved in