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if such are necessary. It is a matter for regret however, that up to the
present only a few have availed themselves of these facilities, but it is
to be hoped that in course of time many more children will be entered in
the Dispensaries and be kept under medical supervision.
In this connection it should be borne in mind that many of the
young children needing to be visited are members of families, who for
one reason or another, will not or cannot join a dispensary, and for
these some further arrangement is needed if they are to receive the
undoubted benefit that attaches to periodical medical inspection, especially
when part of the cost is borne by philanthropic agencies, as is the case
where the benefits of the dispensaries have been taken advantage of.
The visitation of all suitable cases of children up to school age
would obviously entail a very considerable amount of extra work, and
could not properly be performed with the present staff, who, however,
make such efforts as are possible without encroaching unduly on their
existing duties. It is, however, found to be almost impossible to
restrict the supervision of infants entirely to those under one year of age.
On the one hand expectant mothers are constantly asking for help
and advice, while on the other hand, the younger children,—the formerly
carefully watched and weighed infants—cannot be ignored when visits
are paid to new additions to the family, and interest in the two year old
—" the baby you used to weigh is not uncommon, though the time at
the disposal of the existing staff does not permit of much of the necessary
work in this direction being attempted.
Important as the first year of life is, the preceding months, and
immediately succeeding years are also of vital importance to the health
of the future citizen. In a Borough like Hampstead, no child should
begin school life with any disease or physical defects that could have
been prevented or mitigated during the first five years of life by any
action that ought properly to have been undertaken. A little effort
spent in this direction on young children will, in all probability, result
in the diminution of the number of physically unsound workers and
potential parents. Preventible illnesses causing absence from school are
responsible for a considerable waste of money, and should be almost
unknown among children born and reared in Hampstead.
That there is room, however, for much improvement in the health
and physicial condition of the children is borne out strikingly in the
following statement which I am able to submit through the courtesy