Evening star., 1926-05-09
MAIN STREET AWAKENED
TO CHILD HEALTH NEEDS
Surveys in Smaller Cities Disclose That
Slowly But Surely Authorities and
Citizens Are Making Progress.

from the protective and the edu'a-
tional angle, as an essential part Oh
the school program.
The physical examination or schooi
children has become an accepted
thing in most classrooms. Weighlns
and measuring at regular Intervals
as an index of development, protec-
tion of the teeth and eyes, some FORM
of health education, all these tningS
the schools along Main street report.
One of the great general gains which
may be counted in this progress Is
the recognition of health as one of
the primary objectives Of education.
One of the most interesting phases
of this survey was an inquiry int"
the habits of 30 000 school children Oh
the fifth grades of schools in the W
cities. The composite which this habit
picture gives is hopeful. 1t shows an
11-yearold who gets 10 hours sleep,
who averages a fraction over two
glasses of milk a day mot enough.
of course, and with one-f1fth of the
$4,000 drinking no milk at alD. II
shows him familiar at least with the
Saturday night bath, given to brush
ing his teeth and visiting the dentist.
He goes to school in a building which
is, in most cases, clean; where the
common drinking cup is a thing of
the past, where the vacuum cleaner
is beginning to displace the duster
and the broom, and the radiator is
displacing the open stove.
Main Street Awakened.
Main street. in q word is awake
TO health Many of the background
essentials are we'll looked after. The
water supply is usually good. Most
of the cities are alive TO the need
to protect the milk. although the
measures of protection are widely
different and vary greatly in effective
ness. There is generally r. labOra
tory adequately equipped TO assist
physicians in the diagnosis of com
municable diseases. In the reporting
of communicable diseases, in the
recording of vital statistics. the scor-
| ing is fair.
Practically all Of the smaller cities
show some activity in inspecting
their food supplies. tuberculosis has
focused public attention and the in
fant has aroused protective care. The
more dramatic. obvious aspects "t
public health are fairly well attended
to. 1t is the root activities, the more
fundamental protection, as of mothers.
and the Intermediary children. pre-
ventive measures 10 protect children
against the catching diseases.
which are so disastrous when left to
ravage a community; education 10
health consciousness in the com
munity--it is these phases where
weakness lies.
The time should be at hand when
communities realize that by protect
ing mothers they put vitality into the
whole community: that if they would
concentrate attention upon the child
I II ,fvrft.s
him to certain diseases, epidemics
among children could very largely be
wiped out; that by educating children
| to good health habits. the asylumS.
hospitals and sanatoria. which are
50 largely filled because of bad PEI
sopal habits. could be forced to hanS
out vacancy" signs in the future,
Check System Needed.
| Communities should have some WAY
| TO check up on progress of the
! health of babies other than the
gruesome record of mortality, sonie
| subtler records of the increase in the
number of brea st-fed babiesf and in
! those babies who spend at least an
| hour a day in the sunshine or out
| doors. They should know where the
private agency should give way
| to public support, what is the
/ degree of dupllCaJlOn In lne nedltn
/ activities of the community.
| The American Public Health Associa-
! ton took as its field 100 cities of 10000
! population and over. The American
| Child Health Association. under the
! direction of Mr.. Hoover took as its field
I Sc cities with a population Of between
/ 10000 and 10000. From these surveys
each organization has evolved health
/ program.
These programs. together with
! plan of health organization for A CITY
| of 10000 and one for the health
organization of counties, will be the
subject of a session OF the American
| Health Congress in Atlantic City May
| 17-22 The Conference of State and
Provincial Health Authorities and the
| National Organization for Public
| Health Nursing will meet with the
American Child Health Association
and the American Public Health
Association at this meeting. Never
before in the history of public health
has such favorable conditions existed
for the meeting of research and field
workers to harmonize the ideal and
the practical points of view. From
| this meeting should emerge sound
plans for health organization for
urban and rural communities. which
can make not only Main street. but
the country aS whole progress in
the protection of the health "f
! children.