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17
During the past year Mrs. C. Brown, Health Visitor, has continued
her work amongst nursing mothers and their infants.
During this time Mrs. Brown made 966 primary visits. If at one
of these visits the Health Visitor found the infant properly fed and
cared for a second visit was not usually made; but where the
feeding and care of the infant was not so satisfactory one or more
subsequent visits were made. Of these secondary visits Mrs. Brown
made 1,022. There were in addition 881 fruitless calls made by the
Health Visitor, the mother being out at the time, or having
changed her address.
Early in the year I arranged that the Health Visitor should be
at the Town Hall one afternoon a week, for the purpose of weighing
infants and advising nursing mothers generally in the care and
nurture of their infants. During the year there were 32 afternoons
so appropriated. The average number of mothers (with their
infants) who attended on each afternoon during that time was 20.
This I regard as extremely satisfactory.
It is at present too early to gauge the effect of the advice so
given to nursing mothers by the Health Visitor; but I may here
state that whilst the deaths under one year of age amongst the
966 infants visited numbered only 44, which is equal to an infantile
death-rate of 46 per 1,000, the number of deaths amongst the
remainder of infants born in the Borough during the year was 589
which is equal to 137 per 1,000 births. On the whole the result of
the appointment of a Health Visitor by the Borough Council is
extremely satisfactory. A further proof of the success of the
appointment may be gathered from Mrs. Brown's statement to me
that her visits are, with very few exceptions, cordially welcomed.
The following table gives information as to the feeding, &c.,
of infants, and home conditions found by the Health Visitor
amongst the 966 infants visited :—