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63
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The Work of the Health Visitors.
The staff of Health Visitors under this Council's Maternity
and Child Welfare Scheme now consists of a Superintendent and
13 others. As stated on page 7, Miss Woods was appointed
Superintendent Health Visitor in January, 1938, and she is
responsible for the organisation and supervision of the work of
these officers.
The duties of the Health Visitors are as follows:—
All the first visits to Infants are carried out by the Health
Visitors, who are also responsible for re-visiting, except in
the areas served by the Balham and Putney Park Infant Welfare
Centres. At these two Centres the re-visiting of those infants
who are in regular attendance is carried out by the Trained
Superintendents appointed by the Committees of the Centres
concerned.
The Health Visitors attend the infant and ante-natal sessions
held at the Centres throughout the Borough, and there is always
one or more present at each session, the actual number required
to be in attendance depending on the scope of the work. At the
Balham and Putney Park Centres the Committee Superintendent
attends each session, and there is also a Health Visitor present.
Infectious Diseases.—All cases of Puerperal Fever, Puerperal
Pyrexia, Ophthalmia Neonatorum, Measles and Whooping
Cough arc visited on notification, as well as known cases of
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 the General and Lying-in
Hospitals. Home visits are made for investigating applications