The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-20
Mayor and Auditor Get
 Annual Health Report
(Continued from Page One.)
 In Intimate Contact.


 "Our present educational system makes necessary the association Of large groups of children in Intimate contact, one with another with the resultant opportunities for the spread of contagion, not only among those In the school but among those out or school as well. It is unw1se and lnn- practicable that the control Of com municable disease should be divided among two authorities. The problem is one placed by law upon the health authority of the city and must De dealt with by that authority only.
 '"The recognition and control or physical defects in the school child Is likewise the concern or the depart ment of health. Here we have to do with conditions as they exist with defects which. from whatever cause arising, must or should be connected if the child is to continue in posses sion of it's greatest asset,-Health,T The recognition of these defects is a func- tion of medicine or surely of close medical supervision. their correction lies primarily in the field of medicine and public health
 "In Bridgeport the Department or Health has recognized the need TOT the care of the child from the time of its birth or before, and has estab- lished and maintained for that care a number of health stations situated in the various parts of the city. out or the work has come this lesson, this
 
 of defects among children which be- come apparent when they are exam tned in the schools, originate before they enter school.
 To Prevent Defects. "It seems clear that by the exten- Of children before they enter school, we shall be able not only to correct such physical defects are found among them, but to prevent their ap- is n~LS ia and carried on, it may be that the time will come when such of the rem edial work now necessary in the schools will be reduced to a minimum effort.
 Ut is apparent that considering the health of the child from a broad view point our work should be directed to- ward the pre-school age period as that time in which we secure the best re- suits in the prevention and correc- ton of physical defects. Necessarily, 1t will be some time before we will be so able to cover this field that we will see in our work all of those chil- dren of the pre-school age or about to enter school.
 "In the meantime 1t will be neces.. sary to continue the examination of those children in the first grade not previously examined, and as a final check those about to enter the sixth grade.
 "The work of the department of health in it's medical supervision of school children is then but the ex- tension of its work among children as a group whether in or out of school.
 Infants Included
 This work of the department through it's division of child hygiene, includes not only those children of pre-school age and of school age, but of infants as well, and Is so designed that the care of the child's health is carried out through a definite pro- gram commencing with the birth of the child and carried onward until the child leaves school.
 up to the time the child enters school, the education of the child in hygiene Is carried on by the coTnmun- ents. For the department of health. enters school. is 10 enter field be- longing to the educational authori- ties and to the teacher To the school authorities belong all those things which relate to the health ed- ucation of the child. whether the ed ucatton' is carried on through the teaching in the classroom. through physical education or other means of teaching personal hygiene, dietary habits, or what not.
 Here, there should be no divided authority or responsibility The ed- ucation of the child in the school is surely the province of the educa- tional authorities. Not only are these authorities in constant and in- innate contact with the child during the school year, but they are in bet ter position to include in their curri- culum the teaching of hygiene with the least disturbance to school routine.
 The knowledge necessary to carry on the teaching of personal hygiene in the public schools is readily avail able, Is the property of no one in particular and can be undoubtedly bet ter carried on by the school autho ties as can the work which is medi- cal in character, be carried on by the health auth orities."