View report page

24
the little one, and all this right on until the child is entered on the books
of the local elementary school, when the record will be handed on to
the school doctor. When the little one comes to learn of all this it will
be able to echo in truth the words of the psalmist: "In thy book all
my members were written." But the work of the centres will not be
limited to the oversight of the mothers in fact and their infants. It is
intended that the work should have a very definite extension to the
mothers in expectation. There is no legal notification of pregnancy,
so that the medical officer of health has to trust to the willing co-operation
of the medical men and midwives of the district for information
concerning the mothers in expectation, or to such chance knowledge as
may come to him through voluntary agencies or his own health visitors.
The object of obtaining this information is that the expectant mothers
should be urged to attend the centres for medical examination and that
the health visitors should visit them at their homes.
The Health Visitors and their Work.
The three most useful qualifications for non-medical health visitors
are those of: (l) A trained nurse; (2) a certified midwife; and (3) a
certified sanitary inspector. The first training will enable thevisitorto gain
important instruction in the hygiene of child life; the second will enable
her to supplement the work of the midwife even to acting as an inspector
of midwives; and the knowledge of sanitary work will enable the visitor
to appreciate the state of a house and its sanitary arrangements, and
bring her into intimate relation to the regular sanitary officers of the
district.
The nature of the advice to be given to the mother in fact is not
outlined: it may be presumed to depend on the individual case of
mother and child. But on the visitation of the expectant mother there
is an indication in some notes given in last year's report.
The Centres.
The main work of the centres will be with the mothers and the
children. But the circulars show that a very strenuous effort is to
be made to increase to the greatest possible extent their work in
relation to the expectant mothers.
The actual scope of work of the centres is best given in the official
terms: "The chief object of the centre is to secure the medical supervision
of the expectant and nursing mother and of her child. This
supervision takes the form of a medical consultation, followed by
the giving of hygienic advice, and by treatment, especially for minor
complaints, when local circumstances indicate the need for this."