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– 7 –
The shortage of Maternity Accommodation was more acute than
over and representations were made to the County Council, with the
result that two houses were acquired in the Bishops Avenue to serve
as an annexe to the maternity section of the North Middlesex County
Hospital.
Out of a total of 974 births, of which the place of birth was
known, 610 took place in hospitals and nursing homes and 564 at
home.
Two hundred and seventy cases were attended by the Council's
Midwives.
Vitamin preparations were distributed from the First Aid Posts
and the Welfare Centres, and the proportion of mothers taking
advantage of those valuable preparations provided by the Ministry
of Food has considerably increased.
HOME HELPS.
The Council adopted a scheme for the provision of Home Helps
in April, 1945. Two whole-time and three part-time Helps were
appointed and they were employed for varying periods in 35 homes
before the end of the year.
DAY NURSERIES.
The Day Nursery at the Health Centre was well attended
throughout the year. Children up to 3 years are admitted and in
due course are transferred to the Nursery Class at the Martin
School. There were 8,077 attendances.
A third War-time Nursery was opened towards the end of the
year and quickly filled up to capacity. A total of 24,832
attendances were made at the three nurseries during the year.
The attendances were affected from time to time by the common
infectious diseases - measles, whooping cough, chickenpox, mumps
and colds, and it was only on rare occasions that none of the
nurseries was in quarantine.
On the other hand, the great majority of the children who