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98
Health Visitors' attendances at the Maternity and Child Welfare
Centres, Ante-Natal Clinics, etc., 584.
Health Visitors' attendances at Diphtheria Immunisation
Clinics, 260.
Home Help for Mothers.
The Home Help paid 127 visits during the year, and her work
was found of considerable value. She also assists at the Centres,
and makes dressings, when not occupied with her other duties. One
is finding that the demand for a Home Help is not as great as it
was some years ago, largely due to the work being undertaken by
friendly neighbours.
In addition to her work as Home Help, in part of her time she
carries out cleansing of unclean heads, under a special scheme.
She was trained at one of the London Cleansing Stations; the
Council provides the Sackers' combs and the necessary shampoo and
towels. A fee of 1/- is charged for each case. By this means any
child who is excluded from school, can be back within two days,
and the cleansing is not carried out by an officer of the department
acting as such. During the year, 77 children have been cleansed.
Grants of Milk.
Milk is supplied free or at reduced rate to expectant mothers
(during the last three months of pregnancy), to nursing mothers,
and to children under three. The scale of grants for provision of
milk has been fixed as follows:—
Where the family income after deducting rent is less than—
4/- per head free.
4/- to 5/- per head parent pays 1/3 cost,
5/- to 7/6 per head parent pays 2/3 cost.
Where the amount is over 7/6 per head, no grant is made.
The number of grants made during the year was 257.
It is noticeable that with the present financial stringency which
arose out of the national crisis, there is beginning to be a very
definite upward trend in the number of applicants for assistance,
which increase, if it continues, will no doubt present its problem
with regard to expenditure in due course.