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Dental Clinic, 12 Salisbury Street.
Attendances during the year: Mothers, 947; Children 113.
Advice and treatment given in 692 cases—extractions under gas, 368.
Home Helps.—Arrangements for providing assistance in carrying out the
work of the home to expectant, nursing or ailing mothers continued in operation
throughout the year. The women employed were found by and were well known
to the health visitors, who also noted the cases in which assistance was required.
The number of cases in which home helps were employed in 1927 was 3, and the
total amount expended during the financial year to 31st March, 1928, was £6 5s.
Light Treatment is provided to children and mothers at Salisbury Street on
two days each week. From the following report by Dr. A. S. Craggs, the officerin-charge,
it will be gathered that the results obtained in an appreciable percentage
of the cases are regarded as extremely satisfactory. The apparatus used, it
should be stated, was presented to the clinic by Frank Keevil, Esq., a member of
a very large firm in the Borough.
ARTIFICIAL SUNLIGHT CLINIC.
Attendances for 1927-8.
Individual Cases treated 115
Total Attendances 2,718
Average Attendance at each Session 26
The Actino-Therapeutic Section of the Marylebone Health Society was opened
in February, 1927, and the following is a Report of its work during the year
1927-8. The Lamp used is a Sunrae Carbon Arc Lamp, and the dosage has been
from three to fifteen minutes at a distance of three feet.
We have found that the babies can take much larger doses than their
mothers. Two treatments per week were given, and the courses varied from
twelve to forty-eight treatments.
Mothers.—-Only fifteen mothers have received treatment, but it is interesting
to note that even mothers who merely sit and hold their babies while under treatment
are heard constantly declaring in the waiting room that they feel benefit
from such exposures.
The majority of the fifteen mothers were suffering from those dreadful
diseases—tiredness, depression, and utter hopelessness—and after three to four
treatments the staff was amazed at their altered outlook on life and general
physical uplifting. We very much hope that during the ensuing year the doctors
of the centres will send us more mothers, as we feel that more advantage might
be taken of the Clinic's possibilities in this direction.
Children —The conditions we have treated may be divided roughly into three
categories.
Firstly, a considerable number of children suffering from anaemia, lack of
appetite, sleeplessness and irritability, many of them either under weight or with
a weight record that is extremely irregular.
It was found in the latter case that treatment made little difference—the
weight was still variable: the child who was very much under weight gained
regularly, and in most cases the gain was in correct proportion to the age.
Appetite, almost without exception, improved to a very noticeable extent;
sleeplessness vanished and the irritable child became almost invariably contented.
One case might be quoted here of a child — a girl of four — who was
"wicked," disobedient, irritable, and full of fight. We took her for treatment
partly because her brother and sister were having it, and she could not be left at
home. To our amazement she became a model of propriety! Her case is one
which we have been able to follow up, and we are pleased to say that this state
has been maintained: long may it last! We had to tell her mother to keep it a
secret as wq feared an influx of small patients suffering from " wickedness."