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44
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
The work carried out during 193 8 under the Council's maternity
and child welfare scheme can conveniently be reported upon under
the following headings:—
(а) Infant welfare, ante-natal, post-natal, actinotherapy and dental clinics,
and day nursery.
(б) Health visiting.
(c) Provision of maternity hospital accommodation, midwives and
wifery assistance, supply of sterilised maternity outfits, arrangements
for investigation of maternal deaths and cases of puerperal fever and
puerperal pyrexia, consultants for difficult maternity cases, homes
for mothers and children, home helps and nursing assistance.
(d) Provision of milk and other foods to necessitous mothers and children.
(e) Child life protection.
INFANT WELFARE, ANTE-NATAL, POST-NATAL,
ACTINOTHERAPY AND DENTAL CLINICS,
AND DAY NURSERY.
The Council's intention to replace the church hall type of
maternity and child welfare centre with specially built and equipped
centres was carried a step further with the completion in December,
1938, of the centre at No. 28, Elsdale Street. The centre carried
on at Hampden Chapel, Lauriston Road, was closed at the end of
1938, and the new centre was opened in January, 1939. Photographs
of this new centre and of a church hall centre, are reproduced
in this Report to illustrate the change from the original
experimental conditions to the permanent maternity and child
welfare service conditions.
The increased and improved service which the Council is able
to provide at the two new centres may be judged from the following
figures of the number of sessions held each week and the total
attendances of mothers and children at the centres which have been
closed and the comparable figures of the work of the new centres.