Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-08-04
Municipality Branches Out in Ancient
and Honorable Practice of Assist
ing Old Doc Stork.
MUNICIPAL NURSES START
DAILY ON THEIR ROUNDS.
They Look After Gases and No Charge
Is Made to People for Good serv.
ice They Render.
UNITED PRESS LEASED wrnE.I

Philadelphia, Aug. PHILADELPHIA
has been called lot of names, compli-
mentary and otherwise. The very last.
est, however, that could be applied to
the Quaker City is "Obsterical Prac
titioner." Philadelphia as a munici.
pality has branched out into the an.
eient and honorable profession of mid
wife, mad there are no charges for
services On the theory that a citizen
saved is citizen earned, Philadelphia
has gone into the business of saving
It's babies by not only looking after
their health and welfare after they ar.
rive on this mundane sphere, but also
by arranging for the arrival of Old
Doc Stork the minute they see him
flying Philadelphia way.
This comparatively new departure is
three years old, but the city is lust
beginning to realize what an asset the
municipal nurse department of the
Child Hygiene Bureau is to the city,
and many Philadelphians are this sum-
mer, realizing for the first time that
Philadelphia is successfully acting the
role OF nurse to the poor and needy.
Miss Charlotte Perkins is chief of the
Child Hygiene Bureau of the depart
ment of health. She explained through
the United Press what her staff of
nurses does and how they do it. The
first and most important thing is ed.
ucatiOn of the mother, according to
Miss Perkins.
"The most effective method that
can be employed to reduce the alarming
totals of infant mortality in big
cities" said Miss Perkins, "is eduea.
tion of the mother both before and
after childbirth. Next in Importance
is care of the ehild's food. Milk, of
course, holds first place as the food
which must be most closely watched
Mothers cannot be too careful in pre-.
pairing it for the little ones. Then
comes education Of the mother as to
what she should not eat. It is really
astonishing how many mothers and
mothers.tO-be do not know that they
must exercise constant care in choos
ing their own food. Many babies are
killed outright by the mother innocent.
ly eating food that agrees with her
all right, but which, when made into
milk by nature, for the baby, will make
the little one ill.,"
Every morning group of eight wo-
men, clad in light blue suits, black
hats, with a badge of the health de.
partment on their breasts and carry.
ing a small physicians s satchel, can be
seen leaving the city hall. They are
the municipal nurses starting on their
daily rounds. They haven't been
granted any hero medals nor have the
papers carried any first page stories
about them, so far as is known, but
they probably have actually saved
more lives than any ten firemen and
policemen in the city.
Attend Many Cases.
Miss Perkins declared today that
hese eight nurses in the three years
hey have answered calls from Old Doc
5tork, have aided in increasing the
Of Philadelphia by 5000 lit.
lie residents. That means an aver.
Ige of 250 for each nurse for one year.
The city nurse bureau was started as
N experiment. 1t is now considered
me of the most important branches of
he municipal government.
The nurses are assigned to certain
ections Of the city and they visit
hese sections regularly not only to at.
end the little ones that are already
miniature members Of the community,
nut to iot down in their assignment
looks the whispered tip from those
yho are expecting young arrivals and
,bat train they expect to arrive on.
nm