“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.
“To supplement the work of baby care, two nurses were assigned by the
Department of Health to the Columbus Hill and Upper Harlem Districts,
for instruction and supervision of expectant mothers. The Association
for Improving the Condition of the Poor also assigned a nurse to the
Columbus Hill District for similar instruction, so that a beginning was
made to bring the colored expectant mother under the guiding influence
of trained nurses.
“The co-operation of the Tenement House Department was affected to the
extent that special attention was given to the sanitary condition of
the tenements occupied by colored people.
“In a further effort to control the mortality among the colored babies,
the policy of the Bureau to assign nurses during the summer months to
those districts of the city showing a high infant mortality rate and
a high birth rate, was applied with special reference to the colored
sections, and a large force was assigned there, each nurse having under
her direct charge from 100 to 150 babies during these months, keeping
up this complement whenever, through death or removal, the number fell
below the required amount.”
* * * * *
It is inevitable with any group, suddenly transferred into a new
situation, that striking maladjustments should arise. While single
instances of suffering very often are misleading and do not give a just
view of the case, numerous and typical incidents which are by no means
exceptional or exaggerated may help to visualize the problem.
A Georgia farmer who is making $3.60 a day for twelve hours of work
here brought over his wife and eight children, the oldest of whom was
thirteen years of age, to a house which he was fortunate to secure on
Second Avenue. Only a few weeks after his arrival all of the eight
children were taken sick, and two of them, one eleven and the other
six years old, died of pneumonia. Because of the contagion of some of
his children the man was unable to leave his house for eight weeks.
His physician said that the death of the children was due to the
over-crowded condition of the house. This man received no charity and
the money he had saved up was spent to the last cent on doctor bills.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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