Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-08-16
Maternity
Service Held
Deficient
Health Unit Report
Cities Gains, However,
As Well as Needs

While the District made progress
IN the past calendar year in its
nursing and medical care Of ex-
pectant mothers and infants, with
reduction in disease and in mortali-
ty rates, there are serious gaps in
the service still to BE- filled, DR.. Ella
Oppenheimer, director of the Health
Department Maternal and Child
Welfare Bureau, declares in her an
nual report.
The growth of maternal and child
health clinic service, in terms Of
numbers, has been so great that the
medical and nursing stats available
for this work are inadequate, she
said. Additional we'll qualified
medical and nursing personnel is
needed, the pre-school service
should reach more young children,
and home and clinic services should
be expanded, she said.
Among the serious gaps, she said,
were the absence of any facilities
for maternity nursing service in the
home OF delivery for cases under the
care of the medical school home
delivery" service; the absence OF
facilities for dental care for ex-
pectant mothers and pre- school
children attending Health Depart
ment clinics, and the absence OF a
mental hygiene service.
Diet Deficiencies Found.
DR.. Oppenheimer also reported
that a special case study on diets
and incomes, made early in 1898, re-
vealed that among families of ex-
pectant mothers studied only IL per
cent could have purchased adequate
minimum-cost diet" and so per cent
could not even purchase the So
called restricted diet for emergency
USE The latter diet, she said, is
recognized as inadequate and haz-
ardous over a period of use.
She said the situation among fam
lilies OF infants and pre-school chill
dren who were attending the same
centers was not so serious as among
the expectant mother groups, but
still quite hazardous" Among this
group, she said, it was found that
34.5 per cent could have purchased
the adequate minimum diet, but that
42.2 per cent were not able to pur-
chase even the restricted diet.
DR.. Oppenheimer reported that
the infant mortality rate here in
1888 was the lowest ever achieved
in the District, or 481 per 1000 live
births. This, she explained, was 10
per cent below the previous low of
594 in 1885. The average for cities
in the United States for 1898, she
said, was 509 a decrease of 81 per
cent from 1887.
1858 Attendance.
DR.. Oppenheimer also reported an
increase in the attendance of ex-
pectant mothers at Health Depart
ment clinics, the number being 1888
at these clinics. The number of
infants registered for health super
vision in 1888. she said, was equiv
alent to SOL per cent of the 1880
live births in the city. Progress also
was reported in the giving of pro-
lection against diphtheria. smallpox
and tuberculosis. Diphtheria i'm
munization, she reported, was given
to 7l3 more infants under one year
OF age in 1888 than in 1887.
Development of the prenatal
services in cooperation with the
home delivery" service for needy.
expectant mothers. she said, had
had the effect of reducing the
patient load at Gallinger Hospital.
The percentage of births in the Dis
trict, occurring at Gallinger. she
said. has been reduced from ia per
cent in 1885 to 1874 in 1898.