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25
Establishment of the Infant and Children Centre.
At approximately the same time as an Infant Centre
was determined upon the Council resolved to provide a
special centre for the regular treatment of the minor ailments
of school children. It was felt that the area to be served
by the Infant Centre was precisely that in which the need for such
a school treatment centre was most acute. It was also shown
that both administratively and financially the combination of the
two ventures under one roof would be advantageous. Under the
aegis of a joint sub-committee of the Sanitary and Education Committees,
therefore, the house at 228, London Road, was leased
and suitably fitted out, and the premises were opened on November
24th, 1914. A photograph of the interior of the consulting room
is shown opposite.
Staff. The extra work arising out of the centre involved the
appointment of an additional assistant medical officer—Dr. W
N. W. Kennedy—and an extra health visitor.
Work of the Centre. On two afternoons every week (Tuesdays
and Fridays) medical infant consultations are held by one of
the assistant medical officers. The infants are treated medically
when that is necessary, and in each case the mother is advised on
the special precautions to be observed for the welfare of the infant.
The health visitor specially attached to the infant work visits the
cases in their own homes to help and advise the mothers in the
carrying out of the doctor's recommendations; she also holds an
afternoon meeting weekly at the centre and gives talks to the
mothers on infant rearing and correlated matters. As the centre
was opened so late in the year there is little point in giving
statistical details of the work—these will appear in the report for
1915—but up to the date of writing the number of patients brought
up has not only continuously increased, but the parents bring them
regularly each week, demonstrating not only the need for the
centre, but also the practical efficiency of the work that is being
done. During the five weeks from the opening of the centre to
the end of 1914, forty-one (41) infants were regularly attending.
The medical treatment of school children carried out on one
floor of the centre is referred to in the Report on the Medical
Inspection of School Children—page 167.
MIDWIYES' ACT, 1902
Thirty-three midwives attended at the Infant and Children
Centre, 228, London Road, for inspection, etc., during 1914. One
hundred and forty visits were paid by Miss Chapman, the Inspector
of Midwives, to the houses of 36 midwives.
During the year 2 registered midwives withdrew from practice,
5 left the district, and 3 new names were added, leaving 38 on the
register on December 31st, 1914.