"Chez Pierre, the new mailing headquarters for the Louisiana Association for Mental Health's "Pierre the Pelican'' educational program, was. officially dedicated and opened to the public Thursday afternoon in ceremonies at 1528 Jackson ave., the association's headquarters.
The one-room building, which houses office equipment and supplies, will be the center for the association's educational program through which last month 31,666 pamphlets were mailed to parents of first-born infants, Dr. Loyd W. Rowland, executive director of the association, said
The dedication was a preliminary meeting of the eighth annual Mental Health assembly to be sponsored Friday by the state mental health association at the Fontainebleau Motor hotel. The program will include panel discussions, speeches, discussions of published volumes of the joint commission on mental illness and health and presentation of the "Mental Health award of the year."
" On hand for the dedication ceremonies was Miss Betty Cobb, artist who created the original "Pierre the Pelican," symbol of the mental health association. Miss Cobb designed and painted murals for walls of the new mailing headquarters.
BOTTLE BROKEN
Ten-year-old Elizabeth Mcllhenny, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas McIlhenny of 2329 Coliseum, broke a bottle of milk tied with a blue ribbon on the door of "Chez Pierre" to open the building officially. Her father is vice-president and a member of the board of the mental health association.
Preceding ihe dedication ceremonies, Dr. Bernice M. Moore, assistant to the director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas in Austin, addressed parents and association members.
Discussing "Why We Emphasize the Early Years," Dr. Moore said that the old saying "give me a child until he is six, and you can have him the rest of his life" is no longer acceptable today.
"All of living is 'becoming/ is growing and developing, is full of health - giving experiences and emotionally corrective experiences," she said.
ASSETS' LISTED "But this in no way detracts from the importance of the most formative years," she continued.
The major contributions of parents to their young to give them the major assets for living and loving, according to Dr. Moore, are:
1. Healthy bodies.
2. Basic trust,
3. The ability to communicate.
4. An introduction to the vast-ness of the world—its people and things—at a pace he can take.
5. Transmission of value Structures into the child's personality.
,6. Help in discovering himself as a person.
7. Help in learning that self has its limits.
8. Help in,understanding, that in all of life there is need of containment.
9. Development of the capacity to handle stress, anxiety and frustration.
10. A love of new experiences.
11. Help in learning the skills a child must know.
12. Help in developing faith in himself, his fellow man, his God and his universe.
"As these beginnings are governed, so will the child's life be governed," Dr. Moore concluded.
PURPOSES TOLD following Dr. Moore's address, Dr. Rowland explained the purposes of the "Pierre the Pelican" program, which distributes educational data on child development to all young parents in Louisiana with firstborn babies.
These pamphlets are distributed each month during the child's first year, every other month during the second year, quarterly during the third and fourth years and twice each during the fifth and sixth years, he said.
The pamphlets also are mailed to many foreign lands, including Germany, Hungary, France and Greece, Dr. Rowland added.
Also on hand for the ceremonies Thursday was Philip E. Ryan, executive director of the National Association for Mental Health, who will address the annual mental health assembly Friday at 9:30 a. m. at the Fontainebleau.
Following the dedication ceremony, children of parents who have received pamphlets from the association were entertained at a puppet show. PHOTO: AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS Thursday at the dedication
and opening of "Chez Pierre," the Ikmisiana Association for Mental Health's new mailing headquarters at 1528 Jackson, are (from left) Miss Betty Cobb, artist who designed the "Pierre the Pelican" symbol and the murals for the building; Dr. Loyd W. Rowland, executive director of the association, and Dr. Bernice M. Moore of the University of Texas, principal speaker at the ceremonies
