Annual report : 1938 / The Baby Hospital.

  • Baby Hospital (Ladbroke Square, London, England)
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report : 1938 / The Baby Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/28 (page 6)
    HON. SECRETARY’S REPORT. Encompassed by an intermittent series of alarms and excursions, slumps, crises. Air Raid Precautions, and threatened upheavals, our little Hospital has managed to keep afloat during 1938 on a sea, which, if not exactly stormy, has certainly not been as calm as could have been wished. A somewhat harassing element, taking up much time and effort has been the constantly changing instructions received with regard to A.R.P. Moreover, the general feeling of insecurity and unrest which was bound to react on old and young, has not tended to remedy the growing shortage of nurses and domestic servants. In spite of all these ‘ ‘ lets and hinder- ances,’ ’ our record for the past year is a fairly cheerful one; the chief thanks for which are due to our imperturb¬ able Matron, whose equanimity and resourcefulness rise triumphant above all tribulations. With the captain calm on the bridge, the crew are sure to carry on serenely. There is another cause for gratitude we should like to stress: that the wonderful generosity lavished from all sides on the unending stream of foreign refugees, has not lost us a single supporter or diverted a single subscription or donation into other channels. This is a fact we deeply appreciate. The inward history of the Hospital has not been marked by any outstanding events, but is rather a chronicle of the daily round and common task. The prevalent unemployment among the parents is responsible for a very poor and underfed type of baby, and the work, especially in the infant ward, has been strenuous. We have introduced a scheme for providing necessitous nursing mothers with free meals, with very satisfactory results to mothers and babies. The long postponed rebuilding of the bath-rooms and the repainting of the exterior of the whole house have been a very serious expense; but the safety of the structure forbade further delay and we feel that in future we must not leave the building unpainted for so many years; it is a false economy. A gift of £139 from the family of the late James Ramsay MacDonald enabled us to satisfy some very urgent wants: we were able to have the Cottage re-wired and heated; to buy a new sunlight lamp; provide a cubicle-sitting-room for the servants; and, best of all, give our babies massage treatment twice a week for a