Report / Board of Health, City of Edmonton, Alberta.

  • Edmonton (Alta.). Board of Health.
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report / Board of Health, City of Edmonton, Alberta. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/28 (page 4)
    Illegitimacy is a predominant factor in this; six out of a total of seventy deaths were in this category. Infant mortality rate amongst the illegiti¬ mate was 100. The four polling divisions, Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 12, which take in part of the business section of the town and adjoining residential areas, have a population of 12,929, or approximately 16% of the total population of the City. Of the 70 infant deaths which occurred in Edmonton, 20 were in this area. It is probably the most densely populated area that we have in Ed¬ monton, there being 21.4 persons per acre. This, of course, compares very favorably with older cities, but is dense for a city this large. I think that the cause of this higher infant mortality in this section lies, not so much in the density of the population, as in the other factors, such as economic dis¬ tress and unsuitable housing. In this district there is a number of so-called apartment houses where for economy sake families have gone into rooms which are insufficient in size for the number of persons and the facilities for recreation amongst children and the proper care of the children, infants especially, are inadequate. Of the 20 infant deaths from this area, 11 can be classed as preventable. From the report of the child welfare clinics, we can see there has been a considerable increase in the attndance of pre-school children at the child welfare clinics. GENERAL SANITATION, FOOD AND MILK, ETC. The general sanitation of the City continues to be fairly satisfactory in spite of the difficulties that have been experienced at clean-up periods, and in spite of the continued financial difficulties of the residents. To main¬ tain even these reasonably satisfactory conditions has meant that the health inspectors have been constantly active and the few evidences of friction speak well of their relationships in their districts. The bath house and disinfecting station have more than proved their worth to the City. Although over 17,000 baths were given there, only 82 men were found to be verminous, where previously the numbers would have been in the hundreds and possibly even in the thousands. May I point out the number of condemnations that have been made of the foods inspected by the meat inspectors. The reduction is very marked and I think should be taken as evidence that the producers realize the neces¬ sity of providing wholesome material, knowing that only such will have a chance of being approved. Our milk supply shows evidence of continued improvement in quality, both when examined as raw milk and the street samples. Over 12,000 sam¬ ples of raw milk were tested at the different plants and 96.57 % of these were in the first class as determined by the Methylene Blue test. Our street samples show a small reduction in those which are grouped in the special class, that is, having under 15,000 bacteria per c.c., but on the whole were very satisfactory. VITAL STATISTICS The general death rate, 7.42 per thousand, remains at about the average for the past 10 years and on the table of principle causes it will be seen that diseases of the heart are very much in the lead, causing 112 deaths; cancer followed with 82 deaths. Together these causes accounted for over 31% of the total deaths. Yours respectfully, R. J. JENKINS, Medical Officer of Health.