News And Comment
The Visiting Nurse Society, of which Mrs. Henry C. Lea has been the president and an active inspiration since its organization in 1887, has recently advanced to a new sphere of usefulness. In 1903 it cooperated with Dr Martin, the Director of Public Charities, in his endeavor to carry out a careful medical inspection of schools by delegating Miss Anna Stanley, one of its regular nurses, to assist the medical examiner in the systematic inspection of the Mount Vernon School, Third and Catharine Streets. This school being situated in the heart of the foreign district, and the pupils being almost exclusively children of poor Italian, Russian and Polish immigrants, the field offered unusual opportunities for usefulness.
In 1905 Miss Stanley’s work was extended to the five schools in the fourth school district, and has lately been further extended to include the Wharton Combined School in the second district. She has now from G,000 to 7,000 children under her supervision. She is supported by the association, but directed by the medical inspector of the public schools. She visits the schools daily, three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. The medical inspector recommends treatment and gives written instructions, which are left at the office ?f the principal, with information and directions as to whether the case is to be visited by the nurse at home. The nurse each day obtains from the office of the principal these instructions as to the disposal each case. At each school a small room is set aside for the work of the nurse. Here she has a drug closet containing all necessary supplies. When necessary she visits the homes of the children, gives treatment and instructions, and endeavors to obtain the co-operation of Parents, thereby ensuring successful and more prompt results. When necessary, children are taken to dispensaries after school hours or on Saturdays, and some have been brought to the psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania for mental examination.
The Visiting Nurse Society is furnishing the financial support for this work in order to demonstrate what the city school system should do for the physical care of the children. It is hoped that it will be able to continue the work until a satisfactory system has been adopted by the city; this has already been done by New York, where trained nurses are provided for most of the public schools. The kindergartens and the special schools for backward children were established in Philadelphia as a result of similar pioneer work by interested societies. The first congress of the School Hygiene Association of America will be held in Washington, D. C., on May 5 and 6, 1907. The formal organization will be perfected, a constitution adopted and a scientific program presented. One hundred and thirty-nine American men who have become distinguished through their services in the advancement of our knowledge concerning the health of children, or through the advancement of our practice in conserving health in the conduct of schools and school systems have been nominated as founders of the society by a committee on organization of which A. T. Cabot, of Boston, is chairman, and Luther Halsey Gulick, of New York, is secretary. It is the intention of this society to co-operate with the Second International Congress on School Hygiene, which meets in London, England, August 5 to 10, 1907.
The American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf conducts a teacher’s bureau, which reports that it has had in the past year more calls for teachers trained and experienced in the oral method than it has been able to supply. A demand exists for teachers of successful experience, competent to take charge of oral departments. It is likely that this demand will increase, and that a call for teachers trained in the oral method will be heard from the public schools as soon as further study of retardation in speech makes evident to the school authorities the necessity of having some teachers skilled in overcoming speech defects. The department of psychology in the University of Pennsylvania had received several inquiries as to whether instruction in articulation work could be obtained this year in connection with the Summer School. If the demand seems to warrant it, a course in articulation, supplemented by laboratory work in the physiology and psychology of speech, will be offered.
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