DOCTORS' VISITS TO
SCHOOLS BEGIN TODAY.
Especial Attention Will Be Given
to Throat and Eye Diseases and
Examinations Will Be Made
in Teacher's Presence.
Eight doctors will visit the public schools today to arrange with the principals suitable hours for the medical examination of pupils, the long-cherished project of Dr. W. S. Wheeler, health commissioner. Dr. Wheeler hopes to have the system in perfect working order by the end of the week.
In his office at Twelfth street and Grand avenue last night, Dr. Wheeler read his instructions to his assistants and furnished each with blanks and other material. The schools are to be visited at least three days a week and those in the North End and river wards every day.
TO HAVE SPECIAL ROOM.
The examiners are to make arrangements with the principal for a room where the pupils can be examined. Not all the pupils in each school are to be brought before the physician. Those who are suspected of having contagious diseases or who have been absent from school are to be called into the room and placed in charge of the medical examiner.
If it is found that the pupil is suffering from a contagious disease, he is at once sent home by the teacher, and can not return until he has again been examined by the physician, and his condition pronounced improved.
Especial attention will be paid to the diseases of the eye and teeth. The dental colleges have agreed to do work free for all pupils who present the proper credentials.
SPECIALISTS' WORK FREE.
Several specialists on eye diseases have agreed to make medical examinations free of charge for all pupils whose parents are not able to consult oculists of recognized standing.
"Remember," said Dr. Wheeler, "that you are not to make an examination unless in the presence of the teacher or principal. No pupil is to be vaccinated unless with permission of the parents. The office of medical examiner is not to be used as a means to solicit personal business."
Dr. Wheeler has spent more than a year studying the systems in use in other cities of the country. He not only has the advantage of the ideas of other cities, but also his personal experience for several years in Kansas City. By the end of the year he hopes to see the high schools in the list.
