Evening star., 1922-10-08
CHILD HYGIENE
Miss Leete's Work Takes
Her Through Country.
MISS HARRIET LEETE. field di

MISS HARRIET LEETE. field di
WI rector of the American Child
:: Hygiene Association, has just
returned TO Washington after the
third of her long trips covering the
entire United States and even parts
of Carada, in her survey of condi-
tions for the care and bringing UP of
children throughout the lard.
Miss Leete has been in most of the
states of the Union, yet she says that
no one system can be evolved that can
be applied in every town and city to
solve the problems of the care of chill
dren all over the country. Through
her extensive travel and experience.
she tinds each community has to work
out its own problems along this line
in connection with the facilities that
it. individually. has at hand.
Miss Leete talked to all types of
child health woNers and her great
ambition is to help each community
to solve its problems that there will
not he the overlapping waste of
energy among many organizations
that there is today. but rather they
they can give even greater service to
help the children of the nation grow
as they should and have every chance
for development.
1T is senseless to say that we have
not the necessary funds in our coun-
try. said Miss Leete the other day.
Why. the United States is the rich
est country in the world. Every one
knows that. Yet millions of children
go without care and proper nourish-
ment. Know your. own community
and its resources is my slogan
which ! am trying to impress on the
minds of all girls and women child
health workers"
Miss Leete is no idle enthusiast.
She has years Of concentrated train
ing behind her to give practical back
ground to any theories or facts which
She may advance. She graduated
from the Lakeside Training School
of the Lakeside Hospital. at the time
that preventive work was organised
in Cleveland. one of the first cities
to take up preventive work for child
health.
much cheaper 1t is to take the neces-
sary precautions to prevent a child
becoming sick or diseased than to be
careless and wait until the child is
stricken to do anything about It," said
Miss Leete "It is far preferable from
every point of view to make our ma
ton a basically strong one rather
than a recuperative nation. And 1t Is.
Oh COURSE, lHe AiO ma si'N
nation
For eleven years following her
graduation from the Lakeside school
training hospital. Miss Leete was su.
perntendent of nurses for child
health work in the Babies Dispensary
Hospital under the city department of
health in Cleveland. In 1913 she stud
led at the Teachers College of Colum-
bia University in New York city.
In 1917 she did army nursing In
France and from May; 1917. to jan
army hospital She then returned to
New York city and accepted her pres
ent position. as field director of the
American Child Hygiene Association
In the summer Of 1920 she made the
have covered so much territory and
helped her so materially in getting
the many practical angles on this
question and learning specifically how
various communities were overcom-
ing the obstacles which they as indlv--
idual communities had to face.
Miss Leete found that the maternal
death rate in the United States Is as
far down the international list OF
statistics on this subject as fourteenth
the Netherlands have the lowest ma
ternal mortality. Infant mortality is
lowest in New Zealand.
Miss Leete believes firmly that child
health work is among the nlghest ana
most important callings to which
girl can respond. Many girls in
Washington do not know anything at
all about the child welfare centers and
fine diet kitchen work being carried
on here. yet the organization has been
steadily growing in it's usefulness for
. more than twenty-five years..
The accompanying picture. which
was published in the September issue
of Mother and Child, the pub'ica-
tion OF the association. shows a young
Washington mother with her two ba-
bies having them weighed at the
neirhborhood diet kitchen.