INFANTS' MILK DEPOTS AND INFANT MORTALITY 



By WILBUR C. PHILLIPS, Secretary New York Milk Committee. 



No single agency is so important in the campaign against 

 infant mortality as the infants' milk depot. It is the fulcrum on 

 which rests the lever of the situation the instrument through 

 which medical, social, educational and philanthropic prevention 

 effect their purpose and achieve success. 



The infants' milk depot is not merely what the name implies 

 a depot or store from which milk alone is distributed. In the 

 purpose which it has come to serve it is an educational center, 

 a district branch for the dispensation of relief, and an indis- 

 pensable co-ordinating unit between nurses, physicians, clinics, 

 dispensaries, hospitals and various philanthropic institutions, 

 which concern themselves directly or indirectly with the welfare 

 of the child. 



Milk depots vary in type according to the size of cities, the 

 character of neighborhoods, and the individuality of nurses, phy- 

 sicians and social workers who are connected with them. A few 

 broad principles, however, underlie all of them, and it is my 

 purpose in this paper to name these principles as simply as I 

 can and to suggest ways in which depots can be started and 

 maintained successfully. 



The first thing to consider in establishing an 

 LOCATION : infants' milk depot is its location. Many argue in 

 favor of its connection with a social settlement. 

 Others believe that it should be independently located in quarters 

 of its own. In my opinion, neither of these views is right, for 

 whereas the settlement may be just the right place in one 

 instance, in another it may not answer the purpose at all. 



The ideal location is at a point where the depot is most easily 

 reached by the mothers patronizing it. The woman who has 

 housework to do and a family to care for is a busy person. She 

 is apt to be overworked and "tired out" most of the time. What 

 she wants, therefore, is a place where she can get milk, instruc- 

 tion and advice with the fewest possible "steps" and the least 

 expenditure of energy. If this place is in a settlement, church 

 building, or some other place, with attractive surroundings, 

 good ! But if this place cannot be reached easily, a new center 



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