OCR Text |
Show Ready For School? Question Asked By Health Service With the opening 0f a '"'w school year in September, our thought naturally turns to the health of the young children who will begin their school careers. The number of children entering school with correctible physical defects, faulty health habits, and other causes responsible for poor classroom class-room work, should stimulate parents par-ents to see that their children's health condition is satisfactory when they trip off to answer the first school bell. The problem is more than just the correction of abnormal conditions a few months before school begins; it is the problem of health supervision from the earliest moment of life. With adequate pernatal care and thorough medical supervision during dur-ing infancy, the children two years of aire should be free from pre-; pre-; veritable health handicaps. That means that they are in good nutrition, nutri-tion, are immunized against smallpox small-pox and diphtheria, have sound teeth, sleep and rap regularly, eat : plenty of the right kind of food, and play happily and vigorously out of doors in the sunshine. Our big job during the next few I years is to capitalize on this ex- cellent start by bringing them up i to school age in such condition that there is not the anxiety and need for hurried correction of defects. de-fects. The points to bear in mind during this intervening period between be-tween infancy and school age are, j Each child has his physicial examination ex-amination every six months (at least once a year) or as often as his doctor advises. If he is not already immunize-i against diphtheria and vaccinated j airainst smallpox, this should be done immediately. Your physician ! may suggest vaccination for ty-; ty-; phoid if the water and milk are not . known to be safe. His regular health habit regime is continued. He still sleeps and i naps regularly, continues to enjoy i his meals, relishes food which is' ! good for him, and welcomes the wholesome outdoor play and com-1 panionship of other children. j i He has prompt and adequate! medical attention during illness. His environment is controlled to prevent harmful influence from ! affecting his development, such as j ! faulty heating and ventilation of i the home, prevention of needless ' exposure to infections, including common colds, etc. He visits his dentist regularly and has any dental work needed ! done promptly. ! The health examination by the family physician just before he enters school should find the child free from remediable defects. If, however, his parents have neglect-eed neglect-eed his regular health supervision and also neglected to correct his faulty health conditions, the preschool pre-school examination should receive special attention. The next step is the correction immediately of all abnormalities. J discovered in this preschool examination. exami-nation. This should be done a3 soon after the examination as possible. pos-sible. The wise parent who has followed this protective health procedure pro-cedure will realize that health supevision does not end with the preschool period, but continues throughout the school years. The child who has the advantages of such a regime will enter manhood or womanhood better equipped physically to meet the problems of adult life. Nutrition Service, Division Di-vision of Maternal and Child Health, Utah State Board of Health. |