PEDIATRICS Vol. 12 No. 3 September 1953, pp. 16-18
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SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

THE health of the child is primarily the family's responsibility. However, when the child reaches school age, some health protection service while he is in school has long been recognized as a community responsibility. The obvious importance of attention to the health of the school child and the relative ease of access to the child and the family during this period have been significant factors in the wide-spread establishment of school health services.

The first types of school health service were concerned with controlling the spread of communicable diseases among young children in crowded urban schools. When medical inspection for this purpose also revealed many neglected noncommunicable conditions, a number of cities employed nurses under the Board of Education or the health department to pass the information on to parents and to obtain treatment.

In the early years of this century serious communicable diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria, and trachoma were prevalent. The nuisance diseases such as scabies and pediculosis flourished. Many children did not see a physician from one year to the next. Under such conditions, almost any medical and nursing services were of benefit to children. Since then health conditions have changed rapidly. Today there is an increasing awareness that a different approach and emphasis are needed to discover current health problems and to make the best use of the valuable opportunities which the school affords for the health guidance of the child and his family.

Evaluation of the School Health Program

The American Academy of Pediatrics Study of Child Health Services indicates that many of the opportunities to improve child health inherent in health supervision of the school-age child are used poorly, or not at all.