New Britain herald., 1920-01-09
MRS. SLOPER HEADS
 VISITING NURSES
Reports Show Great Work Done
 in Past Year

The annual meeting of the Visiting l Nurse association was held yesterday / afternoon. 40 members being present. ] interesting reports from the ChatrmCn 1 Of committees rccordct the useful | services of tho association. In report ! ing for the supply rommittNr, Mrs. ] Ernest P"ltOn acknowledged with 1 thanks, tn" many donations made | during the war. ThrN" included fruit. | books. money for Christmas cheer 1 quilts. water bottles and other use | ful things. Mrs J. T.. Thomson. for l tue home committee, expressed much | indebtedness to Superintendent Cook ] of the Boys club for his willingness 10 lend Il hand at 32 Center street. | Mrs. t. <. Bradley, for milk commit tee, reported the use of tuherCulin tested ANcshirc milk from the stanley farm. Mrs. Ernest Pelton. for the finance committee, reported tn" unit ing of the Visiting Nurse association with other organizations in united charities drive for funds with which to "Carry On.' The apportionmcnt
 from this fund together with dona-
 tionS and the generous appropriation
 of $3.000 from the city has made pos
 sibIc more extensive work than ever
 done before. Mrs. George Corhin.
 chairman of the automobile commit
 tee. acknowledged with thanks the
 use of 30 private CarS loaned by
 their owners. She also reported tue
 gift of d Ford sedan made to tn" association by the. Sunshine society.
 This car is every day proving a great saving of time and car fares. Mrs
 Walter Hart reported for the Nurses
 committee. Miss Ella Dorman has re- turned tO Boston. her place being taken by Miss Sarah Baker, who has been supervisor of the Middletown
 District Nursing association for the past three years. Other nurses com
 pleting the staff of seven are. Miss Heath, Miss FceneN, Miss Eomejko,
 Miss Ifeneman, Miss MatSon and Miss StoWe!l.
 Mrs. Hart read the annual report of Miss Dorman, showing a total of 13.- 512 visits for the year. Perhaps tn" most remarkable achievement of the year iS the work done in the child wei fare department. Following is Miss Dormuns report of this lin" Of work: .An Equal Chance for Equal Health.
 This is a motto of the National Organization for Public Health NurS- ing and this iS what the New Britain Visiting Nurses have been working for. We have gone into 1,197 homes this past year and in these homes We have tried to secure for the patient every chance for complete ant prompt recovery from, illness, and Wc have. while working in the family. tried to secure for each and every mem Der an opportunity to have n sound body. normal development and good health.
 We have gone into homes where the visiting nurse had never been be- fore and the work spread out like a choice but neglected garden. Thcr" was the pregnant woman who had no care herself. worked almost until the moment of her confinement and mado no plans for her baby except a plan to give ar2ilcial feeding and go back to work in the factory as soon as possible. She was like an old neg lectcd fruit tree bearing small. l Guarled. useless fruit
 By giving the mother a chance, trying to get her under the expert advice and care of a physician to get her into good condition and keep her well. we have given the baby. also. a chance. We have had Il3 prospcc- tive mothers under supervision and We think these babies arc a hraIt hirr. l stronger crop because of the care given to the mothers.
 Let me give you an example of the results in this line: Mrs. S. had lost six babies and she Was about to give birth to another. An interested | friend asked Us to visit her and ad- i wise and help her with this baby. 1 Mrs. $. was very grateful and fol lowed carefully the advice of the nurse. with the result that this baby | has reached 10 months, robust and husky, as strong and healthy as .4 | baby could possibly be. The mother shows his broad chest and fat legs to the nurse with a beaming countenance | whenever she appears.
 The older children were. perhaps 1 the most neglected of all and as VIC 1 raked the ground over we classified i the plants that could be saved and I planned to give them Il chance. It 1 was a big job. We made the inspec- ton. got the ground roady and did ! little else. We made beginning on l one group where pruning and trim 1 ming were needed. Dr. Potts helped i with that group. removing Supertlu- 1 ous tonsils and adenoids for S5 Chil- dren. ThirtY-one more were cared l for by private doctors. but still there i remain 1S9 for whom nothing has ! been done.
 These children who were operated | upon are being weighed and mea ured and are already bearing fruits of health. All they wanted was a chance.
 We have had 3S5 babies under supervision. but with q birth rate or |