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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-11-13, Page 5From free months on,. immuniiation is a .must One of Phyllis McConnell's very important roles as clinic nurse is to see that all children of the county are given their immunization shots at county healthclinics, They are started at one of the seven clinics in Huron at an early age - three months of age for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio. At this time, Mrs. McConnell does anaemia tests on the children to determine the iron content of the blood. Any reading below 10 gms is referred to the mother who is urged to take her child to her family doctor. About 30 out of 500 are referred. At the tender age of one,, there is available for children a combined. rheasle vaccine (red and german measles) and as of this month, the health unit is pleased to be able to offer "M.M.R." which is combined measle vaccine and mumps vaccine all in the' one injection. This is received -from --the Government Pharmacy at nio cost to the Unit and at this time it is restricted to children in age group of 1-3 years of age. - Once in the schools, the children's immunity is still guarded. Mrs. McConnell is in the 39 schools to see that the ° kindergarten children, receive their' M.R. vaccine and at this time, she tuber- culin tests Grades 1 and 5. In the collegiates, it's Grades 9,12 ,and, 13. This service is - extended to all teachers, '.bus v drivers, custodians, etc. • All students are also given . D.T. & P. injections as their immunity requires and health records show. These are all done with parental consents sent home priorto the nurses arriving at the school. �•1974,In there ea 4332 D.T.DT&P injections and 4247 tuberculin tests done. There are,also five chest Phyllis McConneil .... the needle lady' clinics held in the county at each hospital in the five centres every other month. . Mrs.. . ,McConnell . assists the Provincial Chest ..Clinic • doctor . from London - wino attends these and sees each person individually. • Further clinics for anaemia testing and further blood Nesting is done at the monthly Youth Clinics and Adult Guidance Clinics. At these latter clinics, nursing, roles get a little broader and extends to. foot X1.^1.:... -. btttIj GN ' r 1 A, a STAR 1 28 YEAR -46 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13';, 1975 SECOND SECTION AIM Huron's tooth fairies make regular. rounds The Dental Program in Huron consists of the self - application of fluoride tooth- paste for the prevention of cavities. The areas for this program are all public and separate schools throughout the county as well' as the schools , fpr the retarded which 1iave been in - care for those who because of many varied reasons (ar- thritis, poor eye sight, etc.) cannot do this for themselves. - World travellers also go t'o. the Health .Unit forrequired injections such as cholera, , typhoid pa•ratyphoid,o smallpox or whatever , required "for specific coun- tries, n This immunization program , cannot • be done without considerable advance planning and the co-operation of schools and others. corporated into the public school system, Nurse Elizabeth Selling and her assistant, Barb Dougherty, work together as the dental team. All school children are involved from Kindergarten to, Grade 8. The value of fluoride, toothpaste has been Elizabeth Belling ...• dental nurse proven in vaf'tous tests to reduce dental caries by ap- proximately 40 percent but as in all aspects, of public health, the accent is on prevention and this is more en- compassing than just using tooth paste. "We teach proper tooth brushing, oral hygiene, tooth structure and nutrition using various methods, . including audio visual aids", says Mrs. Belling, "So before students apply the tooth paste to their teeth, they are informed as to the wherefore and the whys." The team . spends ap- proximately 40 minutes in every classroom in every school and while the students from Grade 1-8 do the actual brushing themselves, it is done for the kindergarten and retarded students as well as all preschoolers who attend. The total who brushed last. year was almost 10,000 children. 1 - Teaching good dental habits has to start early. Most adult teeth are lost not from dental caries but from periodental or gum disease. Proper tooth brushing begun early will prevent this. "It will not make us popular with the denturist but then . theY , are, used to that," quipped Mrs. Belli'ri°g:' "Even in our affluent and k'nowledgea'ble society you would be amazed at the number of .children.w4ho have no conception of proper nutrition, oral hygiene or indeed. even a tooth brush," she daid. "Thankfully, ,the numbers are getting a lot smaller. "Some families still use, a All services pre -paid through taxes 151 Nursing Division of Huron's Huth Unit active for county benefit It takes 15 Health Unit staff members in the general program and two nursing personnel in family planning segment to provide health services .to the 56,000 people who live in Huron County. Ten are public health nurses - the time of one public health nurse is seconded to the Home Care Program. There are three registered nurses and two clerk technicians. All the staff works' as a team. While the public health nurse is responsible for over all program specific programmes such as hearing, vision, dental and immunization programs are carried out by registered nurses and technician staff. The overall objective is prevention. Primary prevention is carried out through the immunization and dental. programs, education, etc. Secondary prevention where the aim is to preserve the health level attained, is carried out through , screening programs such as vision, hearing, blood tests, urine tests, etc. in regular clinics :.for all ages:' There are specific programs such as a glaucoma survey to be held in December 1975 across the county; and blood cholesterol tests, lung function tests and anaemia tests done at the fair in Clinton. • Third 'Level of Prevention, to maintain the level of health a specific disease or condition has brought, and to prevent the further spread to'others such a,,,in case, of a communicable disease, Hepatitis, venereal disease, or in mental' health, heart condition. follow-up; is carried to support maintenance and prolonging life. Public Health Nursingiservices are geared to serve all age groups including the care of the unborn. "Our services are offered in close liaison with other community agencies such as hospitals and family physicians," says Mrs., Gurpal third, director of nursing for the Huron County health unit. The Public Health Nursing services are carried out under three broad headings:home visiting, community services, and school services. The main purpose of home visiting is follow-up and counselling. This is provided for communicable disease - control, including V.D., for finding contacts and health teaching and for management and control of spread; - health problems in infants and children; family problems, • for physical and emotional health; family planning counselling; and after care support for follow-up ; of hospital discharges from .London as" well' as county hospitals, Children's Psychiatric Research Institute, London, Goderich Psychiatric' Hospital, Crippled Children's Treatment Centre and Canadian Institute„for the Blind. ; The community services mainly in- clude. clinic services, planned educational and nurse -attachment ,pyograrns, All of these services are again geared to serve all age groups. For infants and children in preschool age (0-5), the child health clinics are,. held in seven areas of the county every mpnth and additional special clinics for areas away from towns, such as Dungannon, Gorrie and Zurich, are held from time to time. The , services of these clinics include immunization, fluoride appl`cation, health surveillance, hearing screening, vision screening and anaemia screening. Preschoolclinics are -held in .schools and at other locations for children en- tering kindergarten every year to allow screening and picking -tip of . ab- normalities. This year over 800 children have been screened through these clinics. Each one of these children goes - through immunization up -dating, fluoride application, hearing screening, vision screening, anaemia screening, urinalysis”- in connection with the public health laboratory, speech problems and developmental Screening and Public Health Nurse Physical Assessment. Gurpa Thind dire c t s overall health scene Children ,from five years on' to high school age are offered services covered under the school programs. For adults, the community services offered are family, planning and con- ception control services, prenatal classes or expectant ' parent classes, preschool discussion groups and adult clinics. Family planning clinics and education program ,is offered to serve ,women of child bearing age. Clinics at present operate by Federal Government funding for the previous year and this year with provincial funding are situated in Exeter. and Clinton. In the near future, a clinic will' be set up at Wingham. '' The family planning ,program staff includes a part-time public health nurse, a registered nurse, a secretary and a physician. "The purpose of education program is to teach people on birth control and related topics," says Mrs. Thind. "This program will be offered at community colleges, ' schools and to community groups,'' Prenatal classes' or expectant parent classes are held three times a year in sets of six to eight classes for both 'mothers and fathers -to -be. The classes are offered in Wingham,' Clinton, Goderich and Exeter, The purpose of the classes is to teach what goes on during the nine month period, i%nportant areas of care during pregnancy including psychological aspects, newborn care', birth control and coping with newborn as well as other chilsdren. Preschool 'discussion groups have been. held at some of the sub offices fn the county. At present, a group in Wingham and in Gorrie have been organized. The discussions are carried on topics such as child development, both physical and psychological, 'aspects of child rearing, behavioural problems and other health areas related to children. "In the future, courses based, on popular concepts such as parent ef- fectiveness training will be carried on," promised Mrs, Thind. T.B, „clinics or chest clinics in actual sense are held in all major towns and their operation is carried jointly by Ministry pf Health and the Health Unit. The clinics basically offer screening and treatment and follow-up of affected cases, Screening is provided for food handlers, school and hospital personnel (continued on page I IA) common toot1hbrush • and while we are 'all for togetherness we do not en- courage this practice," said Mrs. Belling. Dental flossing is taught in all Grade 6 classes in the county. • ' For the . dental program, parental consent is required. Preparation is made with the (continued on page NA) Hearing testing in Huron begins at age 7months Hearing Conservation, a program of the Huron County Health ,Unit, is designed to conserve the hearing of everyone within ' the coun- ty.Audiometric technician §hi'rley teepe can test nearing from seven months through adulthood in the clinics such as well . baby clinics, preschool clinics, youth cics, adult' , clinics and in the chools. If a hearing problem is found, the parent is notified by ,phone or home visit and advised to see the family doctor..,,If the doctor deems it necessary, a referral may be' made to a specialist. It is important that a hearing problem be found as early as possible; Language development is dependent on hearing properly and without . (continued on page IIA) Shirley Steepe discovers difficulties 4,372 school kids. tested for vision difficulties in 1974 Faye Krieger Vision equipment in the Huron County Health Unit has been up -dated from the old Scarborough Scainner which was demonst'rate,!i' to County Council in 1971 to the more accurate Titmus Vision Tester. The funds for buying the new Titmus Vision Tester were donated by the Rebeccas and Outfellows of vision tester Huron County in 1974. The Titmus Vision tester can detect vision problems such .as far'"point acuity, near point acuity (reading books), binocularity, color vision, lateral and vertical phoria and the very important screening test of lazy eye, Ali, elementary schools in (continued on page IIA)