MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 79 



only with that last and third group of babies that die; it concerns itself 

 far more with the two previous groups. The New York Milk Committee 

 realized that fact when it started the milk stations in New York City, 

 but it also realized that it could not go back so far as to reach with 

 medical nursing and care the expectant mother unless it had the milk 

 station with its milk as a bait for getting the mother with the baby. That 

 was the third group. Consequently, in connection with the milk stations 

 we started a program of providing pre-natal care for expectant mothers ; 

 the mother took the milk, brought the baby to the milk station and the 

 nurse found out she was pregnant and she would get her registered as 

 an expectant mother and she would be provided with care during hen 

 pregnancy and for one month after her confinement. That is the outline 

 of the work. What did that work accomplish? It means that the group 

 of mothers which now, I think, run between seven and ten thousand on 

 our records, it means that the maternal deaths of our mothers receiving 

 pre-natal care, show a reduction of 69 per cent, over maternal deaths 

 throughout the city as well. 



Q. That is the mothers' who patronize those stations? 

 A. Yes, and who receive pre-natal care. It means that the records 

 show a reduction of 22 per cent, in still births; it shows a reduction of 

 28% in the deaths under one month. All told, it caused a redaction of 

 maternal deaths of 69 per cent. ; of still born babies, 22 per cent. ; of 

 deaths under one month of 28 per cent. 



The position occupied by the City of Rochester among American 

 cities in the number of infants under one year of age who die annually 

 has often been thought to be a position of leadership ; that is to say, that 

 Rochester, if not at the top, is near the top of the list because of the ex- 

 ceedingly small death rate of children under one year. 



Because of this impression, it will be useful to refer to the annual 

 report of the New York Milk Committee which shows the infant death 

 rate, under one year, in all of the large cities of the United States. In 

 their report of the figures for the calendar year 1918, the position 

 occupied by the principal American cities and the death rate of infants 

 under one year is shown. Extracts from this report, showing exactly 

 the position which Rochester now occupies, are given in the tabulation 

 below, which shows that Rochester is 54th in the list of cities from 

 which statistics were compiled for 1918 by the New York Milk 

 Committee : 



