The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-01-09
BETTER BABIES MOVE
FOSTERED By WOMEN

The Woman's Committee of the
National Council of Defense is foster
ing a movement for the examination
of babies. As a result of such work in
other states mary infants have been
found i'll or defective. The local cam
paign of education is in charge Of Mrs.
L. ". Bishop.
To show the character of the work
proposed, Mrs. Bishop submits the fol-
lowing item from an Elgin. ILL.,, paper:
From records, now virtually COM
plete. from % to 33 per cent Of Elgin
children under 6 years are afflicted
with some form of disease, in most
cases durable and necessitating only
advice and proper care.
Child health conferences which are
held every Thursday afternoon at the
free community dispensary are the
solution of the problem, declare those
who have been conducting the govern
ment test in order that Elgln NAV
have 100 per cent child health record
Competent physicians, who donate
their services as their patriotic bit. are
in attendance at these child health
conferences and are assisted by the
community nurse. Their advice has
been largely sought by scores and
more are looked for as the work is
becoming better known. The free
dispensary has the record of every de-
fcient Elgin child and in consultation
and conference welfare the committee
Of the council of national defense is
able to extend its help to those most in
need of it. This work is in addition to
the regular work of the dispensary in
helping all in need Of medical advice
or attention.
The committee IN charge of the
weighing and measuring test urges
parents to take children found to be
subnormal to their family physician or
to the children S clinics for thorough
examination and if necessary for
treatment.
Thousands of undernourished child
rem were found in the national weigh
ing and measuring test which includes
more than 100000 children. The
problem which confronts the commit
tees is what to do with these under.
nourished children SO that they can
grow up to be strong, healthy citizens.
Mothers must do the saving" has
been one of the ChIldren's Year slo
gans. But they can not do it alone.
They must have the help of com.
munity organized to see that every
mother has the care she needs before
her child is born and at confineme 1t.
so that the baby may have fair start
in life. They need child consultation
centers, prepared to give the mothers
the most expert advice as to the care
of the baby and as to methods of feed
ing. Feeding used to be considered as
natural as breathing. but many of the
ills of adult life now are traced to
poorly chosen food in childhood.
The childrens bureau of the L. S.
department of labor believes that
there is one sort of worker who above
any other is qualified to save the lives
of babies. and that is the community
nurse. The bureau urges that each
community which has no such worker
make an effort to secure one as its
part in the campaign to save children.
And communities which have the pro-
lection of public health nurses now
should, the bureau declares, take stock
of themselves. and see whether it is
reasonable to expect that every baby
can receive the attention it needs with
the staff of nurses they have made
available.