[Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Swinton & Pendlebury.

  • Swinton and Pendlebury (England). Council.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Swinton & Pendlebury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    27 Children who have defective eyes, cannot unless relieved, receive ard profit by school education. To such children school work is a pain and burden. Unless relieved and rendered fit for study, they are backward, become disheartened, and always behind in their classes. This has a secondary or indirect influence on their health. It’s here that the parent can help us so much, for where glasses are essential and worn, they will surely soon promote the physical and intellectual development of the child, and prevent many years of suffering and perhaps irreparable ocular disease. With one exception, the refraction of each case tested was done under a mydriatic, the latter being a 1 per cent, solution of atropine sulphate. All Myopes have been systematically tested and re¬ tested. Glasses have been ordered to be worn constantly. There were no very marked new cases of progressive myopia. I must give my thanks to the nurses and teachers for the supervision over wearing of glasses, ard for seeing that reading and writing are per¬ formed in the correct attitude, because it is this, more than any¬ thing, which is tending to keep the cases of myopia low, and send¬ ing the children out into life with useful eyes. In a number of cases, the defect was very shght. In these cases, it was necessary to order glasses, because the defect was just sufficient to cause at times shght pain, lower the sharpness of vision, and imperil the health of the eye during school life. It must not be supposed that eye tests of school children are merely for the purpose of correcting ocular defects by glasses. Such instances are frequent, but there are many ocular conditions which the school tests disclose, viz., the various forms of red and sore eyes. The greatest value of the Medical and Nursing Staff to the community lies in its work for prevention of eye disease rather than its cure. Here much credit is due to the Nursing Staff for the quickness with which these cases are detected and for their efficient treatment, as they recur so often and leave behind defec¬ tive eyesight. Last year these recurrences diminished and were speedily cured. It is gratifying to see that the parents of these cases appre¬ ciate the services rendered and help to carry on the treatment at home. There were no epidemics of contagious eye disease and there were no new cases of granular conjuctivitis. The two cases in last year’s report have left the district. (Signed) GORDON RENWICK, M.B., Ch.M.