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21
Home for Unmarried Mothers.—There is a small but admirable
home situated in Upper Tollington Park where unmarried
mothers are received and cared for until and after their confinements.
This home receives a grant from the Town Council,
and the mothers and babies attend the Maternity Centre in
Wightman Road.
Convalescent Home.—After a difficult confinement it is most
injurious for a mother immediately to return to her household
duties. Such premature return leads, often enough, to chronic
pelvic trouble and to permanent disability. Similarly a child
after an attack of one of the acute infections of childhood, such
as measles or whooping-cough, needs a prolonged "fresh air"
holiday in order for the body fully to recover its vigour before
return to a dwelling that is probably ill-ventilated and possibly
overcrowded. The value both to mothers and children of a
country holiday in these circumstances cannot be over-estimated.
In this Borough we could find at any time half-a-dozen mothers
and a dozen or more little children under five years of age who
would benefit enormously by a month's residence in a convalescent
home. Sometimes in seeing these mothers atid children,
I have actually regretted that they were not suffering from
Scarlet Fever so that they might be able to derive the immense
benefit from five or six weeks' rest in the isolation hospital!
Even having regard to the expense, I do not think that
the ideal of a Homsey Convalescent Home is altogether impracticable.
Such a home in the countryside of Middlesex or
Hertford might be organised in conjunction with the Town
Council's School Medical Service—a residential open-air school
and a convalescent home combined. There can be no two
opinions as to the good which such a home would do.
The essential requirements would be a house of moderate
size, situated pleasantly in a few acres of meadow-land, and
some open-air school rooms and rest rooms. We should always
be able to keep it filled with happy mothers, babies and school
children, who, without it, would be fretting in ill-health at home,
striving vainly for the recovery from sickness that can only be
attained in the sunshine and fresh air. Many of us know from
personal experience the value of a holiday after illness; but
that experience is denied to the poor. It is a mockery to tell