The significance of such a study and its importance as the basis for a practical program is clearly demonstrated by the remarkable results brought about in New York City through a similar study. After a survey of conditions in the Columbus Hill District, the Negro section of the Borough of Manhattan the startling evidence of conditions prevailing there stimulated the New York Bureau of Child Hygiene to take action. This Bureau has succeeded in reducing the infant mortality rate among colored people from 202 deaths per thousand children born in 1915 to 193.3 in 1916, and to 180 per thousand children born during the first six months of 1917.
Dr. Jacob Sobel, Chief of the Division of Baby Welfare, writes as follows in one of the recent monthly bulletins of the New York Department of Health.[9]
“The stimulus to our program was given by a study of conditions in the Columbus Hill District, and it was here that our efforts were first concentrated. It was our knowledge of the conditions in this district which led to an effort on the part of the Bureau of Child Hygiene to institute a campaign against the excessive death rate among colored infants, by studying primarily the needs of the situation, and by securing the co-operation of all agencies and individuals interested in the welfare of colored people. With this end in view, there was first instituted a preliminary census of the babies residing in the above district, by house to house canvas, and an effort was made to have these babies enrolled at the Baby Health Station within said district. Mothers’ meetings were held at schools, settlement houses, churches, etc., at which the physicians of the Health Department gave short talks to the parents of the neighborhood. The co-operation of prominent colored citizens, ministers, physicians, newspaper men, etc., of the district, was secured. Educational slides, containing pointed references to the high mortality among colored babies, and special reference to the high mortality in particular sections inhabited by colored people, were prepared and displayed on the screens of the various moving picture houses in this and other districts.
“A series of articles on baby care was published in one of the newspapers read largely by the colored race, namely, ‘The Amsterdam News’, under the title of ‘The Baby’, and presented short heart-to-heart talks on baby care. The Department of Health also published a local bulletin for this district, known as ‘The Columbus Hill Chronicle’, in which special attention was directed to conditions among the colored population, with specific recommendations for the improvement of their health and surroundings.
“In view of the large number of working mothers among the colored people, a temporary shelter or day nursery for colored babies was established in this district through the co-operation of the Babies’ Welfare Association, and funds have subsequently been provided, through private means, for the permanent equipment and maintenance, in the heart of this district, of a day nursery for colored children.
“The ‘Little Mothers’ of this district was organized, and in this way a large amount of education was brought into the homes.
“Immediately upon the receipt of notification of births in this and other colored districts, the Bureau of Records notified the Baby Health Station, in order that the home might be visited, and the infant enrolled for care and treatment.
“Special attention was directed to the supervision of colored babies boarded out in the homes, and wherever a colored baby was found, not a relative of the occupant of the premises, information was elicited whether this individual had a permit to board and care for a baby, as required by the provisions of the Sanitary Code.
“Provision was made for the distribution of free milk and free ice, to needy families of the districts, through the organized relief agencies and ice companies.
“Special attention was directed towards securing employment for the fathers, so as to keep the mothers at home as much as possible.