[Report 1965] / School Health Service, Flintshire County Council.

  • Flintshire (Wales). County Council. School Health Service.
Date:
1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1965] / School Health Service, Flintshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    take place afterwards. The established procedure is for these talks to be given to school leavers in their last term, Dr. Manwell taking the boys and Dr. Munro the girls. The value of these meetings can be judged by the increasing demand for them. More schools are tak- ing part, and more members of the Health Department are under- taking medical teaching. Children of all ages seem to enjoy film shows and are noticeably more impressed by them than the spoken word alone* The Depart- ment is indeed fortunate to have a ready supply of excellent coloured _ films made available to them by the County Visual Aids Department. These are frequently in demand; subjects include Food & Diet, Smok- mg, Personal Hygiene, Growing Up, Menstruation, the Kiss of Life, and Sex education and Venereal Disease. The help and co-operation received from Mr. Ellis, County Visual Aid Officer, is greatly appreci ated, in arrangingthese loans. We are also indebted to the Unilever film library for assistence in arranging film loans - to the County Health Department. In the p)ast. School Doctors have directed their Health Education mainly towards the school leaver. The improved physical condition and earlier maturation of children leads us to believe that this in- struction should be given earlier, certainly in the early years at the senior school, possibly during the last year at the primary school. At one secondary modern school, at the request of the Headmaster, a scheme was started of giving talks to first year girls on menstrua- tion and growing up. The senior Mistress was present, and suitable booklets and films were presented, so that she will be able to continue this work regularly with other young groups. Parents welcome this type of experiment, many do not find it easy to discuss intimate subjects with their daughters and are only too pleased for frank factual information to be made available by in- formed members of staff. Children in primary school have always received regular visits by nursing staff, for cleanliness inspection. With the increase in gastro intestinal infections in schools in 1965, the number of visits was markedly increased. Every effort was made by the staff to stress the need for good hand hygiene, health visitors put in a great deal of extra work visiting homes and schools and canteens carrying out health education. Following these outbreaks detailed surveys were carried outdar- ing the year, and reports made on the sanitaiy' states of schools and kitchens, and the standards of personal hygiene evaluated. Many shortcomings were revealed. Much interest was expressed in these