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39
INFANT WELFARE SERVICES
HOME VISITING BY THE HEALTH VISITORS.
The foundation of the child welfare services is the work undertaken
by the health visitors. Their activity in the first place was the supervision
of the child under one year. This was later extended, in the one
direction to embrace the child up to the age of five, and in the other
direction to include the expectant mother.
The district is divided into areas of roughly equal populations, each
health visitor undertaking all the maternity and child welfare duties
in her section.
The following is a summary of the number of visits paid by the
health visitors during the year:
(a) To children under one year of age First visits 4,450
Total visits 10,208
(b) To children between the ages of one and five
years Total visits 11,211
INFANT WELFARE CENTRES.
About half the time each health visitor devotes to maternity and
child welfare work is spent at the clinics. Those dealing with children
under five are either infant welfare centres or toddlers' clinics.
At the end of the year, in all, 22 weekly infant welfare sessions
were being held in 14 separate premises.
The following is a summary of the attendances at the infant welfare
centres during the year:
Total attendances at all centres:
(1) By children under one year of age 51,914
(2) By children between the ages of one and five
years 11,148
Total number of children who first attended at the centres during
the year and who, on the date of their first attendance, were:
(1) Under one year of age 3,186
(2) Between the ages of one and five years 439
Total number of children under 5 years of age who attended at the
centres during the year and who, at the end of the year, were :
(1) Under one year of age 2,990
(2) Over one year of age 6,094
TREATMENT.
The following are particulars of the various treatment facilities
available:—
Dental Treatment: This is undertaken by the staff of the Middlesex
Education Committee, who treat patients in five clinics in the
district. General anaesthetic sessions are held as required.
The number of children under five years of age referred for
treatment during 1947 was 368.
Physio-therapeutic Treatment: Children are referred from the
local clinics to be seen by the physio-therapist or the orthopaedic
surgeon at the Marlborough Hill Clinic. The forms of physiotherapy
available include exposure to rays of mercury Vapour