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25
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE CENTRES.
The four centres at which Maternity and Child Welfare work is
carried out are situated—
No. 1 Centre at the rear of the Town Hall, Crouch End, N.8.
No. 2 Centre at Burgoyne Hall. Burgoyne Boad,
Harringay, N.4.
No. 3 Centre at Church Road. Highgate, N.6.
No. 4 Centre at Coldfall Avenue, Muswell Hill, N.10.
The volume of work done is set out in Tabular form in this report.
At No. 1 Centre the numbers attending increased so that new sessions
had to be arranged. There are now five sessions per week of childwelfare
and three sessions weekly of ante-natal work. The pram
shelter was inadequate (this was extended in 1944 and is now
satisfactory).
At No. 2 Centre also the increased number of mothers and children
was met by the provision of extra sessions. Here (also in 1944) a
further step was taken towards completing the adaptation of what was
a Church Hall to the functions of a Health Centre, with the most
pleasing results. A new development in the work of Burgoyne Hall
Centre is the appointment of a Psychologist, Miss Ruth Thomas, to
advise the mothers on the problems of behaviour in infancy and
childhood.
No. 3 Centre at Church Boad, Highgate, has been out of action
for three months (during 1944) as a result of enemy action, but has
undergone repairs and is working normally again.
No. 4 Centre at Coldfall Avenue, Muswell Hill, has been a matter
of concern to the Committee for some years. Started sixteen years
ago, when Coldfall School was built, it was originally intended to be
merely a sub-centre for the treatment of minor ailments in school
children; but there has gradually developed at it all the work of a
Maternity and Child Welfare Centre and School Clinic combined.
The premises are quite inadequate for these purposes and for the
numbers attending, and search has been made for suitable premises
more centrally situated for the Muswell Hill area. The unused
Electricity Showrooms in Fortis Green have been placed at our disposal
and the work of adaptation was proceeding in 1944 when the building
was severely damaged by enemy action. It is hoped that in the near
future this work may be resumed and that the result will be a much
better centre more conveniently situated for the mothers of the
Muswell Hill area.
The Need for New Centres.
For some time the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee have
had under consideration the question of additional Centres to save
mothers from the longer journeys required by some of them in attending
the present Centres. Search is being made in Central Hornsey
and in the Finsbury Park-Stroud Green area for suitable premises.
As to the quality of the work of the Centres and of the staffs of
Health Visitors, Midwives and Voluntary Workers connected with
them, the vital statistics bear testimony. The infant mortality rate
of 30 and maternal mortality rate of 0.69 per 1,000 births represent
health standards for maternity and infant life equal to those of the
oft-quoted figures of Oslo, Denmark, Holland and New Zealand. They
are an achievement of which any health authority may be proud.