Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-04-26
Usefulness Of Examinations
Already Shown in Attention
Called to Affections


attending the Baby Week activities
| at its headquarters, Palama Settle
ment, the men and women who are
putting weeks Of hard work into the
preliminaries and the actual duties of
the week itself, declare that the idea
has been abundantly justified.
No better argument for the permat
nent baby welfare station demanded
by the workers behind Baby Week Is
required than the fact that during the
examinations yesterday, two slight
curyatures Of the spine, one bad; case
of adeRoidsl and enc case of hernia
were discovered in the sixty-odd ba-
bies examined. And ii ID q sin
gular fact that all of these. cases
occurred in families I'm comfortable
circumstances The truth of the mat
ter is that there are so many things
that can happen to baby that unless
a thorough examination such as is be-
| ing given in this scoring contest is
given to babies, some ailments on af-
| Fiction may be present In a baby with
a possibility of escaping notice until.
the defect is aggravated and perhaps
permanent injury results.
To Save Lives &c. s. -.
"a permanent child welfare station
| is I'm fact babv life-saEinG station"
said James A. Rath. head worker at
Palama, yesterday, and 1t is the only
solution Of this high mortality, in chill
dren problem
The test for each period OF a. child's
age, divided into six months Intervals,
is standard. and the idea n 70 see,
whether a baby or child of a certain
age reaches or falls behind standard
Play objects. pictures, questions and
answers, articles common in the home.
paper and pencil for children old
enough to use them and draw crude
representations, are all used in these
tests, and the advancement Of the
mentality Of each child is gagged by
the alertness with which he satisfies
the requirements Of the standard OF
his age.
Babies Very Young,
The age Of the babies examined yes
terday was on the average consider
ably less than the average age of the
babies examined Monday. This helped
to make the examinations more diff
cult and more trying to the physi-
clans, nurse, and volunteer helpers, as
the helpless little Infants couldn't un-
derstand any Of the things being done
to them, nor the instruments with
which tests and measurements. are
made. It was amusing To- see semal
little boy or girl OF threeor four years
take pity on baby some months
younger who was crying and say to
1t: Don't cry baby, nobody hurt YOU"
A somewhat discouraging feature to
those who are. promoting Baby Week
Is the tact that under the Limitations
only about 500 babies can be, exam
ined during the week. ReceeRizine
this fact at the outset, rule was
made that only those babies could be
examined who were previously regis
tered. Some were turned away yes
teriaE while some 20 were registered
and allowed TO g0s through to take the
places of those who were registered
for exainindIion yesterday and didn't
show up for some reason or other.
Twir( H. lf1tlbeu co1lti be cared 1urs
II e1tugh physicians could be Sc
cured to give their services, SO as to
III in the m0znine hours al well assl
the afternoon. ALI the other divisions
of the work could be proceeded with
If only the services of physicians were
at all times available. With some so
physicians in Honolulu, it seems as If
this codld be done, and perhaps the ;;
results Of this weeks campaign will
arouse suficieat interest to make 1t |
possible in succeeding years to enlist
more physicians La the work. Here
again is argument for the permanent
station. For among the 5000 babies
under six years IN Honolulu, only 800 |
will be examined, or less than 4 per
cent.
Large.
The total attendance is an encour-
aging fact for the promoters OF the
There were Csc counted |
and 68S up to 4:30 yesterday |
afternoon
Every chair was filled at both the |
feeding and the cleaning demonstra- |
tons given in the gymnasium by Miss |
Dewar each afternoon Miss Dewar
comes from the Kanike0lani Chit
dren's Hospital. Another lecture |
which attracted much interest and. at |
which the big kndergarten room I
where the lecture was held was flied |
"a overaowing, was that given by Miss