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9
Cod-liver Oil 56.94 per cent.
Orange Juice 56.05 per cent.
Vitamin Tablets 60.00 per cent.
This means that rather less than three children out of every five
for whom this special provision is available, are actually receiving
the benefit.
Home Help.
The services of three home helps were made use of during the
year, the number of confinements in which help was given being 40.
Domestic Help.
Four domestic helps were in more or less constant employment
throughout the year, the number of homes in which assistance was
provided beiug 60. Many of the cases in which help is provided are
of a very chronic nature, and require a good deal of time. If a larger
number of domestic helps were available, a considerably larger number
of cases could be dealt with, and the service be much expanded,
but our experience has shown that it is difficult to obtain a sufficient
number of the type of woman who is keen on this work.
Day Nurseries.
Both nurseries were filled to capacity throughout the year,
except during the months of May and June, when the numbers at
St. Michael's were much reduced by an outbreak of measles among
the children. The average daily attendance at St. Michael's for the
whole year was 27, and at the White Hart Lane Nursery 41. The
health of the children has, on the whole, been good. With housing
conditions such as they are at present, and the urgent need for more
women to be employed in industry, the demand for the admission of
children to the nurseries, is very great and is reflected in very long
waiting lists. From time to time there has been considerable
questioning, both in the medical and in the lay press, of the value
of day nurseries as a feature of our social services, and while few
would deny that the proper place for a young child is his own home
and the best guardian his mother, it must be remembered that under
present housing conditions the home environment is not always very
satisfactory, and that there are many cases where the mother's care
is for one reason or another not always available. So long as these
conditions exist, and while the present need for the services of women
in industry remains, the service to be rendered to the community by
well-managed day nurseries will be a very real one.