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The total number of attendances made by the Health Visitors at the Centres
was 418. At the Municipal Centres, 4,600 attendances were made by a number
of mothers including 42 expectant mothers and 438 children, of whom 261 were
under one year, 61 between one and two years old, and 116 aged 2-5 years on the
date of their first attendance. At the Mary Ward Centre 578 attendances of
Holborn mothers and children were made by 2 expectant mothers and 46 children,
of whom 25 were under one year, 12 from one to two years, and 9 between two
and 5 years.
In addition to the Thursday afternoon classes for mothers, special talks were
arranged during the year as follows : —
" Vaccination and Smallpox," by Dr. Wanklyn.
" Teeth and their Care," by Mr. C. O. Gray.
Infant Welfare in Canada, by Mr. P. B. Tustin.
" The Care of Milk "
A visit was also paid to premises where the mothers were shown the various
proceedings in connection with the bottling of milk.
During Health and Baby Week, as mentioned elsewhere, short talks were
given by Lady Nott Bower and Dr. King Brown on matters connected with Infant
Welfare. The attendances were very good; these special occasions were evidently
much appreciated.
We have endeavoured to use pictures and mottoes dealing with health as
much as possible; care has been taken to select only those pictures which are
clear in their teaching; both pictures and mottoes are changed when their novelty
is exhausted. In this country there is a great scarcity of suitable pictures designed
to teach a health lesson; we have to send to America, France and Austria for the
best of our pictures, and even then have to make a careful selection of what we
are offered.
In addition to the health talk, assistance is given in the cutting out of
garments; patterns of the most suitable woven garments are given away, also
directions for making knitted garments and advice as to the choice of suitable
materials. Two hundred hanks of wool of a superior quality obtained from Wales
were sold at cost price to the value of £8. 15s.
Three maternity bags for the use of mothers during confinement were given
late in the year to the Centre, 10, John Street, one by Lady Smith, and two by
Mr. T. W. Coffin. These gifts have proved very useful, four mothers having been
lent the bags in the year 1923. " Welfare " accouchment outfits costing 6s. 2d.
each were purchased and sold at the Centre.
An outing was arranged for 59 mothers, most of them carried infants in arms,
and 30 older children below school age, during the summer to Virginia Water; the
costs of the fares of some of the mothers being defrayed in part from money
collected by private subscriptions.
The report of the working of the Maternity and Infant Welfare Centre at
10, John Street is largely the work of Dr. Mary Kidd, the Medical Officer of the
Centre.