*** PUBLIC HEALTH *** 
     
     (By Mrs. Harold Laird) 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the field of Public‘ Health, the work of the P.E.I.W.I. has 
     
     been outstanding. The Institutes have worked for and secured better 
     
     medical services and hospitalization. They have voted money to the 
     
     Red Cross, the Sanatorium, the Orphanages, the Hospitals, School for 
     
     the Blind, and defrayed hospital expenses for children. In 1929 they 
     
     supported the Red Cross Campaign for Vaccination of school child- 
     
     ren, when 73.7% of these children were vaccinated. Prior to this 
     
     campaign, 85% were unvaccinated. They did educational work among 
     
     the population on Tuberculosis and the Sanatorium; successfully 
     
     campaigned for pre-marital blood tests, and educational facilities for 
     
     Retarded Children; supported the Crippled Children’s Fund and 
     
     assisted at their Clinics; sponsored Home Nursing classes and 
     
     secured the services of the Red Cross Nurses for these, and assisted 
     
     at Blood Donor clinics. 
     
    

    
     In 1929-30-31, the Women’s Institutes’ c‘hief work in Child 
     
     Welfare was Toxoid Clinics. In 1928 and 1929, deaths from diptheria 
     
     had been 26 and 28 respectively. In 1930 they had decreased to four. 
     
     Dr. Creelman and the Red Cross carried on the work of immunizat- 
     
     101’]. 
     
    

    
     A resolution carried at the 1927 Annual Convention promised 
     
     that the Institutes would co-operate with the Federated Women’s 
     
     Institutes of Canada and the Dominion Department of Public Health 
     
     in the study of Maternal Mortality. The Red Cross issued instructive 
     
     letters on the subject “Maternal Mortality” prepared by Dr. Tid- 
     
     marsh, and also pre-natal letters on request. A great many Branches 
     
     ordered Dr. Helen MacMurchy’s (Dom. Dept. of Health) “Mother’s 
     
     Book”. Prince Edward Island, fortunately, has had a low maternal 
     
     death rate in relation to other provinces. 
     
    

    
     A petition, prepared by Avonlea Institute, to the Medical and 
     
     Optometric Associations asked that rates. for tonsils and adenoid 
     
     operations of school children be reduced, glasses furnished at lower 
     
     prices and eyes examined at least once a year. The former agreed to 
     
     a scale of charges whic’h were acceptable, and the latter gave the 
     
     children a 25% reduction on any type of lens or mountings they might 
     
     choose. 
     
    

    
     Perhaps the work of P.E.I.W.I., in the broad field of Public 
     
     Health can best be summed up in this warm tribute to the P.E.I. 
     
     Women’s Institutes from Miss Mona Wilson, retiring Public Health 
     
     Nurse of the P.E.I. Public Health Division, when she spoke to the 
     
     1961 Annual Convention. In her 38 years of Public Health Service, 
     
     Miss Wilson stated the Women’s Institutes were a “tower of 
     
     strength” and were 100% behind public health services. She referred 
     
     particularly to their work in the rural schools: improved lighting and 
     
     washing facilities; cod~liver oil project; help in Dental, Baby, and 
     
     Innoculation clinics. They developed a change in daily food habits, 
     
     and the eating of balanced meals including the drinking of milk in- 
     
     stead of tea as in former years. They spread information in the early 
     
    
   
   
    
     ._98._.