306 AFFILIATED SOCIETIES 



(c). Medical and nursing supervision. This is fulfilled by the 

 consultations, by the visits of the nurses to the home and by the 

 weekly meetings at the clinic which is a starting point for the edu- 

 cational work of the charity. 



(d). Statistical. The number of infants reached by the Babies' 

 Hospital last year (1909) was two thousand five hundred and seventy- 

 three (2,573). This included all patients treated in the hospital and 

 at the consultations including the nursing infants. Accurate mortality 

 statistics have been determined concerning the infants who were fed 

 on dispensary milk and represent the class known as the tenement 

 house infant. The city mortality among the infants under three years 

 years of age is 26 per cent, of the total deaths, or 10 per cent, of the 

 total births. The mortality among the five hundred and sixty-eight 

 (568) infants (under three years of age) fed through the dispensary 

 during the past year was 2.7 per cent. 



(e). Social. There has been a distinct improvement in the home 

 conditions of the dispensary patients through the periodical visita- 

 tion of the nurses who encourage the mother and, by suggestions 

 and practical assistance, frequently revolutionize the management and 

 care of the infant in its home. 



The medical service is about to inaugurate a system which ^ will 

 determine the influence of this philanthropic work upon the hygiene, 

 the management and care and the reduction of morbidity and mor- 

 tality among this class of infants. 



THE BABIES' MILK FUND ASSOCIATION OF LOUISVILLE, KY. 



The Babies' Milk Fund Association of Louisville, Ky., began opera- 

 tions for the current year on May 3, 1910, by the establishment of 

 seven distributing station. These depots were operated continuously 

 throughout the season until October I, when all but one were dis- 

 continued, partly because of insufficient funds and partly because^ of 

 our success in the teaching and inauguration of home modification 

 with a large percentage of our patrons. 



The work for the year has been eminently successful and the re- 

 sult most gratifying. We have increased our clientage 100 per cent., 

 materially decreased the death-rate as compared with that of the 

 city at large, and have made decided improvement along educational 

 lines in regard to infant hygiene, preparation of food and feeding, 

 and personal and home cleanliness. 



The policy of the Association in accomplishing these results has 

 been as follows: 



First Educational. Wleekly clinics were conducted by competent 

 physicians at each station, all of which the mothers and neighbors 

 were encouraged to attend. Here infants were examined and weighed, 

 histories taken, and food prescribed or changed as indicated. 



Practical talks on infant hygiene and feeding were given at these 

 meetings, and mothers' meetings were held at each station monthly 

 where lectures were given on specific subjects relating to care and 

 feeding and home surroundings. 



In addition to this, the supervising nurse gave frequent lessons and 

 demonstrations in regard to home modifications, which were con- 

 tinued in the individual homes. 



Pamphlets on the care and feeding of infants were also generally 

 distributed. 



