The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-10-14
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IMPORTATION
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. RAGKEN, Dirsssse.
washingtan. D. G.
TEACHING HEALTH TO GIRLS.

headaches are a positive disgrace.
Anybody can achieve maximum of
health and keep it, if he really puts
his mind to it. The trouble with most
of us is that we are too lazy.
This is not an advertisement for
patent medicine. 1t is part of the
novel doctrine now being preached
and demonstrated at New York's new
health center for women-the latest
thing in preventive medicine
From fifteen to twenty women and
girls are examined here every day, and
placed on the right road to health. If
necessary, they are directed TO clinics
or hospitals for medical or surgical
treatment, but in the majority of cases
the prescription consists of nothing
more painful than exercise. fresh air,
proper clothing and diet. This sounds
too simple to- be efficacious, but you
should hear these doctors at the health
center talk of the simple causes that
are often responsible for low vitality
and poor health.
For example, a young girl who
came up for examination the other
night was sure that she was a victim
of kidney trouble, because within the
past two weeks her ankles had been
swelling mysteriously every night. She
appeared wearing a scared but re-
signed expression, walking slowly up
the steps to the examination room as
if every step would be her last. When
she departed she looked like differ
ent girl, and the steps meant nothing
in her young life at ALL For the doc
tors discovered that organically there
was nothing the matter with her; that
the trouble with her ankles was due to
the fact that she had recently moved
to the country where she was COM
PEELED to walk two miles from the sta
ton every night after sitting all day
at an office desk, and this walk was
performed in i1l-fitting, high-heeled
shoes. It's a wonder that her ankles
didn't rebel entirely said the doctor
who examined her.
The object of the health center is to
point out these small but important
dangers TO the health of women, and
to teach them good living habits. The
majority of men acquire such habits
by q sort of blind instinct as we'll as
by their early boyhood training in out
door exercises, but women. handi-
capped by long centuries of skirts and
d fear of being unladylike. must be
taught, step by step. If a man has too
many headaches or a painNin his back
he usually rushes to see a doctor, but
a woman will endure i'll health for
years without finding out the cause,
This is the worst habit of ALL" says
DR.. Florence Meredith. director of the
center, for so often the. trouble is so
easily corrected"
For instance, most pain Is caused
by poor posture" continued the doc
tor, thrusting her own straight shout
ders forward to indicate what she
meant. This throws the organs out
of place, restricts circulation and
weakens the abdominal muscles. If
I could correct only one thing out of
hundreds that are wrong with women
1 would correct this weakness of the
nh
entire circulation"
/ When Doctor Meredith speaks, you
feel she knows what she is talking
about. In the first place. she herself
radiates health and energy, and in the
second place her experience has been
such as to make her an authority on
the health of working women. AS
plant physician for a large rubber
company employing thousands of
women. and later as a lecturer on
health topics to war workers, she ac-
quired a large understanding of, and
sympathy with, their problems. This
experience has led her to believe that
heredity and environment play rela-
lively a small part in the health of
the average individual.
Some of the diseases we believe to
be hereditary" she declared, but this
feature of heredity has been greatly
exaggerated. We have SO many girls
coming here. blaming their mothers
and fathers for various inherited dis
abilities. really due entirely to their
| own bad living habits. Maybe their
mothers and fathers had the same
bad habits but there is such a thing as
| progress.
BAD housing conditions and cheap
food unquestionably make it harder
fer a person to keep well. but he can
at least make the best of his environ
nent. 1t doesn't do any good to sit
around blaming things. Get wnat
/ you can out of them. Every one has
his mas iInum health within his grasp,
ahd many are putting up with Z mimi
num-
! This Is not mere idle philosophy on
| the part of Doctor Meredith, for she
! and the other doctors who run the
| health center actually show girls and
women how to get the most out of
their environment. In this they are
aided by the Y. w. c. A, which pro-
vides certain necessary props such as
gymnasiums. tennis courts, swimming
| pools and other recreational facilities
at an absurdly low sum. All of these
are valuable adjuncts to what may be
called the Meredith system.
AS each girl arrives at the health
center. she is taken upstairs and
turned over to charming elderly wo-
man called the Mother of the Cen
/ ter" who takes down her family his
tory. This consists of brief histories
of her mother and father: a list of
diseases of which she has been a vic
tim, especially those occurring in her
childhood; facts concerning her living
| conditions-how she sleeps, what she
! eats and how much exercise she gets
/ if any-and descriptions of any at
flictfons from which she is at present
suffering
With these data in hand, the doctors
put her thru a physical examination.
! She is weighed. measured. her
strength and respiration tested, and
i defects, if any, noted. Just because a
! girl is not suffering from some spe-
cific ailment does not mean that she
! is we'll She may have several minor
defects which will eventually lead to a
breakdown. In the past. some doctors
/ have made physical examinations and
based thier remedies on what they
/ found. If they didn't find heart