OUR BABIES

Patea Mail, Volume XLIV, 23 July 1920, Page 4

OUR BABIES

BY HYCtEIA

Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

CHILD WELFARE IN AMERICA

People in Now Zealand may wonder '* why the Children’s Bureau and the whole Child Welfare movement in the United States come officially under the Depart of Labour. We always wondered about this ourselves ; and, on asking the question at Headquarters in Wash- * ington, we were told that the Legislature and the Government practically never heard anything about children, or recognised their existence, except as regards their wrongs in connection with long hours and overwork, in factories, etc., and the need to legislate for their protection. WHAT THEY DO IN NEW YORK The Central Children’s Bureau in Washington and the groat practically j independent bureaus which have been founded in every State of the Union, now constitute a vast network spread over the whole country. Some idea of the magnitude of this complex - organ- ; isation and the rapidity of its growth can be formed from the fact that in the last 12 years the Children’s Bureau in ■ New York has grown from nothing to a staff headed and controlled by Dr. Josephine Baker, assisted by about 150 doctors, who devote half their time to 1 this work, and more than 100 wholctime visiting nurses. The latter are mobilised during the summer months in , order to safeguard babies, as far as pos- :■ sible, from the risks of Infantile Diart rhoea. ; Our readers will wonder where the a 200 supernumerary nurses are drawn \ from. 'This was one of the many masj terful measures evolved by Dr. Joseph- !■ inc Baker- The army of school nurses i! come under her control, and it occurred , ! to her that the nature of the duties of • School Nurses did not necessitate their : having he long vacations required for recuperation in the case of school teach'l ers, whose lives are more sedentary, and ■ involve a greater stress on the nervous i system. It was decided to keep these | nurses employed in what would otherwise be their summer vacation, helpi ing to visit the homes of perhaps .100,S 000 mothers of young children, and thus 5 «/ O 7 j staving off disease- in the most critical | season of the year. | PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE The outstanding feature of Dr. Jos ephine Baker’s policy was the rcco’gni--5 tion from the start that her main duty lay not in dealing with disease, but in preventing it, by establishing “Well Baby Centres” and “Milk Depots,” and by sending round Visiting Nurses to train, advise, help, and direct the mothers in their own homes. Her nurses go out, as do our Plunket Nurses in New Zealand, to teach mothers the simple laws of life and health. When they come across any form of dejyility or disease beyond htc ordinary range they refer such cases to the doctors, or got them treated in hospitals. Josephine Baker’s nurses are essentially practical teachers of domestic hygiene throughout the homes of the poorer classes in the community ; and their work is so well done that, though the density of population in certain quar tors of New York is three times greater than that of the most crowded areas of London, the Infantile Death Rate for Now York City has been brought below that of London. It is impossible to over-estimate the practical significance of this great hygienic crusad*. i When in New York two and a-half years ago Dr. Truby King saw a great deal of Dr. Josephine Baker and her staff, and he was very much struck with the harmonious and effective working of the organisation. A letter recently received from Dr. King from Miss Pattrick (ex-matron at Karitanc Hospital and for the last two years matron of the Baby Hospital, London, founded and run on New Zealand lines) refers to a visit she had paid to Dr. Baker in Now York. Miss Pattrick wrote £rom Montreal on her return journey to New Zealand, where it is hoped she will assume the broad direction of the Society’s nursing scheme throughout the whole Dominion. The following is an extract from Miss Pattrick’s letter: — We had five days in New York, and a very busy time. I had a very interesting interview with Dr. Josephine Baker (Head of the Infant Welfare Department) and also with Dr. Sobol, her first assistant. They both send very cordial greetings to you. They arranged for one of their Superintendent Nurses to take mo round various Baby Health stations, and to show me other things of interest. I had quite a long talk with Professor Holt, and he gave me his cards for the Walker-Gordon Milk Dispensary, and also for the Infants' Hospital ; further, he invited my friend and myself to lunch with them on the Sunday, when we met Mrs. Holt too. 1 ‘ i Dr. Holt, Professor of Children’s Dis- ( eases at Columbia University, and consulting physician to several New York Baby Hospitals, is the leading authority j in America on Infancy and Child Wei- ( fare. His text books both for doctors i and nurses arc well-known all over the world. WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE. ' So far almost no attempt has been ' made in America to educate and help 1 the more independent and self-reliant f four-fifths of the community—as we do • 1 in New Zealand—but this will come in ' due course. We shall publish next week t a very admirable American leaflet, “A s Problem for Parents,” which sums up ( - in a way which will appeal equally to 1 all classes, “what growing children need.” It is issued by the U.S. Depart- s ment of Labour, Children’s Bureau, (f Washington, 1919. ®