BABIES' HOSPITAL, NEWARK 305 



Third To furnish to the poor suitable food for their infants at 

 cost and free to those who are destitute. 



Fourth To confer a public benefit through opportunites offered 

 to physicians to add to their knowledge of the diseases of infancy. 



The hospital maintains thirty beds with an active service to chil- 

 dren under three years of age. A medical clinic is conducted in the 

 hospital for out-patients and this service is extended to include con- 

 sultations for the instruction of mothers with nurslings or sick 

 infants. 



A part of the medical work consists in the maintenance 9f a milk 

 dispensary in the hospital building where modified milk, suitable for 

 infants and young children, is distributed to the poor, with printed 

 instructions on infant hygiene. The milk, adjusted to the needs 

 and digestion of the various classes of infants, is put up in separate 

 nursing bottles each containing one feeding and is sealed and pre- 

 pared so that it will keep without ice. One day's supply is furnished 

 to the mother or messenger sent to the dispensary for it. 



In addition the hospital maintains four distributing stations beside 

 the one at the hospital where members of the Medical Staff conduct 

 weekly consultations for mothers with nursing and sick infants. A 

 daily distribution of the infant's milk is made at these substations 

 by means of a wagon which conveys the milk to the stations where 

 a nurse distributes it. 



Through the assistance of a committee of women, trained nurses 

 are employed to assist the physicians at the consultations, to make 

 records of the individual patients and to visit the mothers of the 

 dispensary patients in their homes to help them understand the in- 

 structions of the physicians and to teach infant hygiene. 



The worthiness of each milk case is determined through the order 

 signed by a physician or some responsible person who knows the 

 applicant. Only those who are poor are allowed to use the dis- 

 pensary or obtain advice at the consultations. 



The objects of the milk dispensary and consultations are: 



First To continue to furnish good milk to infants leaving the 

 hospital. 



Second To provide suitable milk for sick infants, brought by 

 mothers to the hospital clinics or consultations. 



Third To conduct consultations for the instruction of mothers 

 with nurslings and supplement their failure with good milk when 

 necessary. 



Fourth To maintain visiting nurses to gather statistics, give in- 

 structions in the proper use of milk and teach infant hygiene in the 

 home. 



This work is being accomplished as follows: 



(a). Educational. The nurses attempt to visit each patient at its 

 home once every month. Instruction is given to the mother or 

 messenger from time to time as they come to the station for the 

 milk. A printed pamphlet on "The Care of the Baby," including 

 all the features of hygiene, is distributed gratuitously to the bene- 

 ficiaries of the charity. The physicians carry on an active educational 

 program in their conferences with the mothers who bring their 

 infants to the stations every one or two weeks for examination. 



(b). Preventive and remedial. This work is limited to the activi- 

 ties of the milk dispensary and consultations. No milk is distributed 

 to the mothers for their personal use, but verbal instruction is given 

 to them by the physicians on maternal feeding. 



