Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-14
CARE0F BODY
ESSENTIALPART
OF CURRICULUM
Miss Convey Reads Important
Paper on Health
Education.

In outlining a program for health
education, Miss Emeline Gonczy. pubic
health nurse of Great Falls and Cas-
cade county. declared in apaper present
ed to the Montana Nurses Association
of Graduate Nurses in convention here,
that it should be borne in mind that
not only the mind Of the child comes TO
school. but his body as well. she
maintained that education of the latter
was quite as important as mental tram
ing. Zone is the complement of the
other she asserted. and added that
neither should be neglected.
Miss Gonczy's paper, which was de-
clared by the delegates to the conven-
ton to be one of the most Illuminating
they had heard on the matter OF health
education, follows in part:
In consideration of a subject with
so many angles as that of health edu
cation. il will readily be seen that in a
paper limited as to time as my paper IS
today, it is manifestly impossible to do
more than to touch upon the various
phases of the subject. And this ! VIII
do without the elaboration that each
phase deserves, hoping that the discus
sion to follow will elaborate many OF the
most important points of the work.
Every pre-school child should be
subjected to a thorough health examl-
nation before entrance into school. lt
is Just as important as for a candidate
for life insurance, or a recruit tor the
army or navy to be subjected to the
same preliminaries.
Whole Child Comes to School
ut would advance school hygiene
BY taking into account the whole child;
his physical and mental well-being.
Each child should be observed and put
10 the test. Lay stress on health nab
its: be watchful for peculiaritles; nave
a program; make demands on the child s
native intelligence; find out his individ-
ual qualifications. The whole child
comes to sc~hool-health alone can
keep him whole in body and in mind.
To guard this life-enriching health, the
teachers love must be pervaded by the
physicians attitude. No nation can be
wholly civilized that does not conduct
q nrorram of health. We are going
to save child life. decrease absences by
being thorough-going.
among the seven main detectives
of education. health comes first, and
placing health as first objective is per
fectly logical. Glass room teachers
should make systematic health inspec-
REORGANIZATION of hearing and vision,
teeth. etc. For the correction
Of defective children. every community
should have clinics; schools in cities
should have both clinics and dispensar-
les.
Some day society will realize that
tn ewell- developed child is the most val
liable possession of the race, and IN the
light of that realization may provide
tie means whereby he may be assured
of that development. l would cite as
an example. the mechanical appliances
for cleansing the teeth. Sir William
Ostler said that if he were asked which
influence has been the most disadvan-
tageous to Great Britain, defective
teeth or alcohol, he would say defec-
tive teeth.
Baths In School Urged
Baths should be installed in all
public schools, and Systematically used.
School baths do more to instill habits
personal cleanliness than any amount
the theory Of cleanliness. The
bath should be regarded as one
of the necessities of school architecture.
just as we now look upon toilet conven-
fences and proper drinking facilities.
When one considers the relatively
small expense would be incurred by the
installations of bath facilities in the
of all school buildings. and
the fact that the school furnace would
automatically heat sufficient water, it
can be readily seen that this improve
is not an unattainable dream. but
a most practical move in the right
direction. Each child would receive
an admission ticket emitting him TO his
bath.
Every school child should have a
health record. We should
the idea of health and incul-
cate health habits, and avoid as much
as possible the idea of disease. While
it may be true no child is entirely free
from disease or weakness that may |
lead to disease, it is also true that
n craeful medical inspection will bring !
these tendencies to light and under
proper care and supervision they may
be entirely eradicated.
Humidity in SchooIrooms
THE question of the health of
rchool children should be considered
from more angles in the general
An excellent beginning has already
uIOuN III ina CStiol IA II hlht-i
ter Of lighting. but | wish to register
a criticism in regard to ventilation
and heating. One of the serious evils
IF schoolroom air under the artificial
methods of ventilating and heating, is
deficient humidity. When air of 80 de
grees Fahrenheit at a relative humidity
Of 60 degrees or 20 degrees is heated
10 ~ degrees, the relative humidity is
lowered and the drying capa-
rity of the air is increased enormously. |
On an average winter day the air
Of the best ventilated school room may
a humidity Of but 20 degrees of
30 degrees. that is to say. az driving |
the winds of Sahara. Plants less
hardy than the desert cactus, s~li7ivel
and die in such an atmosphere. Why,
then, should we expect children to
thrive in it? 1t Hicks up every bit of
moisture from the furniture-that
dries and falls to pieces. From the
and threats of the children, all
the mucous membranes exposed to
such air, become dry and unhealthy.
Correct Posture
Correct posture should be ,mpba-
sized, and all school seats should be
suited to the size of the pupil regard
.ess of his age. Good posture means
good health. Long continued stoop-
ng posture moi only congresses the
ungs, producing a condition favorable
o tuberculosis, but what is not so
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