1937 - Convention Report

              54 ALBERTA WOMEN'S INSTITUTES
REPORT ON CHILD WELFARE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Mrs. H. R. Evans, Innisfree, Convener.
Madam President and Members of Alberta Women's Institutes:
It is with very great pleasure that I present my report of two very active
years of work among the Branches in Child Welfare and Public Health. I am
very sorry to say that only nine Constituencies have reported from more than
thirty. Obviously something must be done about these reports. It is only frOm
the press that I have gathered what a great amount of work is being done along
our lines for the relief of needy cases, and the giving of food and clothing and
medical care when assistance is necessary. I am not reporting hot lunches,
playground equipment, Christmas trees, etc., for, important as this work is, it
really belongs to other Committees.
Those Branches who have reported seem to be adhering to the outline of
work which I prepared for 1935 to 1937, particularly along the lines of vaccination
and inoculation against communicable diseases. The gradual decline in the num­ber
of deaths from communicable diseases in recent years shows what may be
accomplished by education and by the application of established methods of
prevention and control.
Maternal and infant welfare are well to the front in the work of our Institutes.
No health problem can be of greater consequence to a nation than the care of
the mother and her unborn babe. Someone has said that the child is the building
stone of the community, and each child has a right to be well born. He has the
same right to physical and moral health as to an education. The community
with its Women's Institute Branch must take up the responsibility where the
knowledge and resources of the family end.
John Dewey, philosopher and educator, says: " What the best and wisest
parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its
children."
An active interest is being shown in the health of the child while at school.
First aid kits have been provided, also wash bowls, soap and towels, so that
children may wash their hands when necessary, and especially before eating their
noonday lunch. In one Institute a cot was provided for the primary room of
their school so that small children coming long distances might rest comfortably.
But there is still that very great need for physical training missing in so many
schools. It is often taken up just for 10 minutes on Friday afternoons. This
type of spasmodic drill is practically useless, and the deportment of the average
school child is deplorable. There is also the need for organized play. So often
the children are left to their own devices at playtime. Five minutes or more of
physical drill twice a day and organized recreation will make for better study and
clearer minds. See what you can do about this matter in your own school district.
Southern Alberta Institutes are making great headway with their radium fund
for the control of cancer. This is a most commendable project and Mrs. Thomp­son,
Director of District No. 4, informs me, that after listening to a very fine
address by Dr. Stuart M. Rose, Radiologist, on " Cancer and the Urgent Need
of Radium," the following resolution was unanimously passed by the Conference:
" WHEREAS all radium in Alberta is privately owned; Be it resolved that
this Conference of Women's Institutes of District No. 4, assembled at Lethbridge
on this 5th day of March, 1936, go on record in instituting a campaign for the
raising of a fund to purchase radium for the free use of all in need of such treat­ment
in Southern Alberta."
The Northern districts are working in connection with building and endow­ments
of hospitals, and throughout the province there is a very marked activity
with clinics of all descriptions, particularly baby clinics and tonsil clinics. So
much good work is done by these clinics, especially in the treatment of small
children whose parents are financially unable to meet a doctor's bill. The Branches
are always ready and willing to help with any " follow up" work.