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47
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Work of Health Visitors.
The duties of the Health Visitors are as follows :—
Infant Visiting.—Infants are visited as soon as information
of birth is received either from the Registrar or by
notification, and they are revisited four times during the first
year of life unless they are attending one of the Infant Welfare
Centres, when the revisits are made by the Centre Superintendent.
It has not been found necessary to visit systematically all
children between the ages of one and five, as they have been
visited when infants, and many of them are kept under supervision
at the Welfare Centre or by visits made by the Superintendents
of the Centres. Further opportunities for keeping
observation on these children and their homes occur when
visits are made to the home for some other purpose, as for
instance, for a case of infectious disease. Children known to
be unhealthy are visited regularly.
Infectious Disease.—All cases of Puerperal Fever, Puerperal
Pyrexia, Whooping Cough and Ophthalmia Neonatorum
are visited on notification, as well as all known cases of Measles,
and Diarrhoea in children under five.
Other Home Visits.—The Health Visitors visit the homes
of mothers attending the ante-natal Centres in the Borough,
as well as the homes of women who apply for admission to
Maternity Homes, and the maternity wards of St. Thomas's
and other Hospitals. Home visits are also made for investigating
applications for milk under the Milk (Mothers and
Children) Order, and in connection with Convalescent and
Dental treatment. Visits are also made to see if homes are
suitable for children to return to after minor operations at
General Hospitals.
Periodical visits are also made to Creches and institutions
for unmarried mothers and their children.