The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-30
ONE SUMMER OF
 TRIAL MOTHERHOOD Modest Experiment By Pure
 Milk Commission INDIANAPOLIS CHILDREN
One Hundred Tiny Patients All Saved. Simple Methods By Which Child Saving Societies May Effect
 Good Results.
HELEN W. ROGERS, Superintendent


 sion of the Childrens Aid Association of Indianapolis for it's initial summer sea son sums up its results as follows:
 Four distributing stations in operation; five nurses-four graduates and one as- sistant on duty; six examining physicians in bi-weekly attendance; fifteen weeks in session; ten thousand bottles of pure milk distributed; seventeen hundred visits made by the nurses; $10,0O0 expended; 1o0 babies supervised and not one death.
 Modest as this experiment in foster motherhood was in numbers, it was sig nificant in result. reducing to zero the mortality of those babies under supervis- ion-many of them suffering from intes- tinal diseases-and thereby becoming a factor in the general reduction of the city's death rate for children under five years of age to one-half that of the pre- ceding season.
 In Indianapolis as elsewhere, the infant mortality had been in inverse ratio to the purity of the milk supply: Fifty three per cent of the deaths of children under two came from intestlnal-prevent- able-diseases, and sixty per cent of the milk upon which these children had de- pended for food was unfit for consump- tion. These facts were sufficient in- centive for action. Accordingly, in April 19s. Dr. Eugene Buehler secretary of the city board of health, appealed to the Commercial Club for assistance in re- ducing the mortality of the approaching summer by the distribution of pure milk to the city's needV ha hies
 This appeal finally resulted in the appointment by the Childrens Aid Asso- citation, to whom the matter was re- ferred, of a committee representative of the state and city boards of health. the Commercial Club, the Local Council of Women, the German House and Catholic organization. The first definite step was, of course, the raising of funds, ultimately derived from three sources subscriptions | received in response to circular letters sent out in five series-to names selected by the members to those not responding to the first appeal. to club women, to pastors of churches and to physicians; collections from bottle banks' placed in the stores. and from the sale of milk. From these sources came total of $140O.
 The second step was the selection of a
 
 | milk the commission was fortunate in | having Walker Gordon laboratory es- | tablished in the city almost simultaneous l ly with itself. After a careful inspection | of both farm and laboratory, this was 1 accepted as the source of supply for the | initial season. From the first the com- mission stood for pure, rather than puri- l fled (PasteuIized, or sterilized) milk, and for individual rather than group modifi- cations. Both of these requirements the Walker-Gordon system was able to meet. Frequent tests made by the state board of health showed a bacterial contact as low as HOO per cubic centimeter. The laboratory, moreover, was to fill individ- ual prescriptions for infant feeding thus saving the expense of a central station Percentage notifications were furnished the commission at the rate of 25 cents for peach days feeding, and whole milk at between Il and 12 cents a quart, the retail price being 15 cents.
 The next step was the establishment of distributing stations. Ten places were immediately available, rent free. AS the commission was limited to four stations for the first season, it chose, with one exception, quarters in institutions already recognized as friendly centers-a settle ment. rescue mission, and an institu- tional church. Then followed the selec- tion of nurses and physicians. chosen not only for special training, but for temper amental fitness as we'll
 The stations determined, the equipment was quickly installed a refrigerator, a hot plate, utensils for sterilizing, a set of statistical cards and a bundle of pam phlets for distribution. Then came, prior to the opening day, a house-to-house canvass of the district for bottle-fed ba- bies. The stations thus opened with an encouraging number of babies. and the routine was quickly established.
 The routine was as follows: All ba- bies were undressed, weighed and care full personal and family histories record ed before prescriptions were given. The dictum that leach individual infant must be law unto himself'' was accepted without qualifications. Stock formulae, therefore. were never used, and all pre- scriptions were given by the iprysiclans- never by the nurses. As far as possible, children were weighed weekly; in serious cases twice a week.
 The stations were open daily from to 12 for the distribution of milk. All milk was repacked in ice before leaving the station. A deposit fee of cents for each bottle was required also a charge of cents for each bottle when broken. Modified milk was sold for 1 cent for tubes containing three and four ounces; cents for six and eight ounces; whole milk for cents. In cases of poverty tickets were, after investigation, fur nished and accepted as cash. The afternoons were spent by the nurses in visits, sick children receiving the first attention, all classes being vis- ited at least once a week. Tho daily birth returns were also watched, and homes in the district visited. Only in cases where mothers were unable to nurse their babies were they. however, asked to come to the stations.
 By far the most important aspect of the work was the education of mothers | in the care of their own children. This was carried on by Individual instruction l at the bi-weekly clinics and in the homes | by the distribution of literature and by | social incentive. Monthly socials, with l addresses on the care of children, helped | engender among the mothers whole | some spirit of companionship and rivalry | in the care of their children. Physicians l a2d nurses may give instruction in tho | care of milk and the child, but it is, after | all the social intercourse which Is most | likely to supply the incentive for carry | ing out these instructions.
 | We believe that it was largely due to this spirit of cooperation between all | the forces entering into tho care of these | children that not one under supervision ] died, but on the other hand, showed by l actual gains in weight that this experi- | ment in ster-motherhood was success. | Insignificant as it is in numbers, 1t l raf,llx, corrohorataa the conclusion of