OUR BABIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16796, 21 July 1920, Page 8

OUR BABIES.

(By “Hygeia.”)

Published under the auspices of the Royal (N.Z.) Sobiety 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.” New Plymouth: Plimket Nurse Williams. ■ Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Stuart Russell, Brougham .Street, New Plymouth. Stratford: Pluuket NurseM'Lean. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. E. E. Hollands, ’ Box 101. - Hawera; Plunket Nurse Dix. Hon. Secretary, Mrs. M. J. 1 Janson, .Box 23.' '.• ; » CHILD WELFARE IN AMERICA, r People in New Zealand may wonder why the Children’s Bureau and the v.bclo Child Welfare movement in the United States comes officially under the Department of Labour. Wo always wondered about this ourselves: and, on asking the question at Headquarters in Washington, wo wore 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 Jong hours and overwork in factories, etc., and tljo need to legislate for their protection.

WHAT THEY DO IN NEW YORK,

The Central Children’s Bureau in Washington and the. great practically independent bureaus ’ ■which' been founded in every Stale of the Union, ■notv constitute a vast network spread over the whole cfluntry. Some idea of the magnitude of this complex organisation 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 this work, and more than 100 wiioletime visiting nurses and 200 extra 1 nurses. The latter are mobilised during the summer months in order - tp safeguard babies, as far ns possible, from the risks of Infantile Diarrhoea. Our readers will wonder where the 200 supol-mimcrary- nurses, are drawn from. This was ono of many masterful measures evolved by Dr. Josephiue Bailor. The army of school nurses come under her control, and it occurred to her that the nature of the duties of School Nurses did not necessitate their having the long vacations required for recuperation in the case of school teachers, whose lives are more sedentary, and involve a greater stress on the bretin and nervous system. It was decided to keep these nurses employed in what would otherwise bo^ their summer vacation, helping to visit the homes of per-, haps 'IOO,OOO mothers of young children, and thus staving off disease in the most critical season of the year. PREVENTION' BETTER THAN CURE. Tire outstanding feature of Dr. Josephine Baker’s policy was the recognition 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 tiain, advise, help, and direct the mothers in their own homes. Her nurses go out, as do our Rlunket Nurses in New Zealand, to teach mothers the Simple laws of life arid health. VTien they come across any' form of debility or disease beyond the ordinary range they refer such cases to the doctors, or get" 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 quarters of New York is three limps greater than that of .the most crowded areas in Lcndon, the Infantile Death Rato for New York City has been brought below that of London.

It is impossible, -to over-estimate tlio practical significance of this great hygienic crusade. When in Now- York two and a-half years ago Dr. Truby King saw a great deal of Dr* Josepliijro Baker and her staff, and he was very much struck with the harmonious and elfcftive working of tho organisation. A letter recently received by Dr. King from Miss Pattrick (ex-matron at Karitano Hospital and for tho last two years matron of the Baby Hospital in London, founded and run on New Zealand linos) refers to a'visit she had paid to Dr. Baker in New York. Miss Battrick wrote from Montreal on her return journey to Now 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 fetter: — • ' Wo had five days in Now York, and a very busy time. I had a very in- - terosting interview with Dr.'Josephine Baker (Hoad of the Infant Welfare Department) and also with Dr. Sobol, her first assistant. They both sent very cordial greetings to you. They arranged for one of their Superintendent Nurses to take me round various Baby Health stations, and to show me other things' of interest. I had quite a long talk with Professor Holt, and lie gave, mo his cards for the Dis pensary, and also for the Infants’ Hospital; further, he invited my friend and myself ,to lunch with them on the Sunday, when wo met Mrs. Holt too.

Dr. Holt, Professor of Children’s Diseases at Columbia University,' and consulting .physician to- several New York Baby Hospitals, is the leading authority in America on Infancy and Child Welfare. His text books both for doctors and nurses are 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 the»mo?o independent and self-reliant four-fifths of tiio community—as we do in New Zealand,—but tin's will corae.in due course. We shall publish next week a very admirable American leaflet, “A Problem for Parents,” which sums up in a way which will appeal equally to all classes, “what- growing children need.” It is issued by the IJ.S. Department of Labour, Children’s Bureau, Washington, 1919.