{"id":14378,"date":"2021-02-15T12:27:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T17:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/?p=14378"},"modified":"2021-02-15T12:27:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T17:27:53","slug":"a-surviving-monument-to-maternal-and-infant-health-at-12th-and-carpenter-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2021\/02\/a-surviving-monument-to-maternal-and-infant-health-at-12th-and-carpenter-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"A Surviving Monument to Maternal and Infant Health at 12th and Carpenter Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBetween four and five thousand babies die annually in this city before they reach their first birthday,\u201d lamented Dr. Wilmer Krusen, the newly installed director of Philadelphia’s Department of Health and Charities in early 1916. \u201cThis high mortality is among the ignorant, and is due to ignorance,\u201d Krusen claimed, noting that \u201chalf of these were caused by diseases which could have been prevented had the child been given proper medical care and attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Health Center No. 1, 12th and Carpenter Streets, northwest corner, October 8, 1953. (PhillyHistory.org) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Detail of Health Center No. 1, 12th and Carpenter Streets, northwest corner, October 8, 1953. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEducation is the best factor in the fight to reduce infant mortality\u201d noted Krusen. \u201cGood health instruction centres are to be placed close to the people\u2019s homes\u201d and focus on prevention, \u201cinstead of waiting for them to get sick and then seeking help.\u201d In May 1916, Krusen announced the opening of three health centers in as many Philadelphia neighborhoods, all of them intended to educate\u2014and much more. The first of these, Health Center No. 1, would be at 12th<\/sup> and Carpenter Streets in South Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, a non-governmental group called The Child Federation had opened that center at 12th and Carpenter two years earlier\u2014on June 15, 1914. The Federation rented the corner storefront built to serve as a saloon \u201cin one of the most thickly populated districts of Philadelphia, one that contributes largely to the city’s high infant death rate.\u201d Its goals? \u201cTo educate and guide new mothers in the feeding and care of their babies\u201d and supervise and educate expectant mothers. This experiment, according to the Federation, would \u201cdemonstrate the value of the idea of localized intensive health work. . . not only for Philadelphia, but [also] for other cities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Health Center Building, from The First Year Book of The Child Federatio<\/em>n (Philadelphia, 1913-14). (Google Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Health Centre idea is new,\u201d wrote Edward W. Bok, president of The Child Federation and longtime editor of The Ladies’ Home Journal<\/em> , in 1914. This experimental “comprehensive program,\u201d claimed Bok, would apply \u201cin the community all measures of health protection that are known to science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bok continued: \u201cBefore the Centre was formally opened, a preliminary survey of one city block was made with a view to determining its sanitary conditions, the number and size of the families resident in the block, classifying them as fathers, mothers, expectant mothers, school children, children between the ages of 2 and 6 years, and infants under two years of age. \u2026 \u00a0With this data before us,” he wrote, the Federation opened the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Our Problem,” frontispiece in The Third Year Book of the Child Federation,<\/em> (Philadelphia, 1916) (Google Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe degree of co-operation that we are receiving from the people in this district has amazed us,\u201d added Bok. \u201cThe Centre, as we hoped would be the case, is rapidly developing into a clearing house for the entire community. We are being consulted by the young and the old, male and female, for advice and counsel in regard to all sorts of problems. When we are unable to help them, the applicants are referred to the agencies which can. These experiences are confirming our belief that the only way to satisfactorily solve the health and social problems of a city is to place agencies having the functions of a Health Centre in definitely limited districts of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Within its first year, Bok and the Federation were able to declare success. \u201cThe Health Centre has become in every respect what it set out to be . . . a center for the entire neighborhood.\u201d\u00a0 Two nurses \u201cmade 10,142 visits to the homes of the neighborhood, while 10,377 visits have been made by mothers to the Center.\u201d More than 750 families and 491 babies came under the Centre\u2019s care. Prenatal care led to 103 successful births. These results were considered \u201cnothing short of remarkable\u201d and the Federation became \u201ca force in the community life of Philadelphia…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“A Health Center Examination,” from The Second Year Book of the Child Federation <\/em>(Philadelphia, 1915) (Google Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing like it has ever been attempted,\u201d reported the Federation. The demonstration site attracted not only city officials, but \u201cphysicians and social workers from all parts of the country\u201d who came \u201cto personally investigate\u201d this successful demonstration site in South Philadelphia. \u201cIt has attracted country – wide attention,\u201d wrote Bok, \u201cand deservedly so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it the first of its kind? Bok proudly claimed that the health center at 12th<\/sup> and Carpenter was \u201cthe second in name in the United States (New York City had opened a similar facility in Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side). But this site would be even more comprehensive in the services it offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart this success? Neighborhood-oriented, community-based, hands-on nursing. \u201cThe health center is a means by which the community is in actual touch with the health nurse and social worker,\u201d wrote Bok. \u201cThe visiting nurse, assuming a friendly attitude toward the women of the neighborhood, soon finds their needs. The nurse becomes the confidential friend of the family, learns the family history, the diseases prevalent among the neighbors, the names and location of expectant mothers and sick babies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliza McKnight, the City Health Department\u2019s supervising nurse, wrote in 1916: \u201cmothers are encouraged to bring young babies to the center once a week, so [nurses] will often detect some slight deficiency that escapes the notice of an untrained parent.\u201d These regular visits to the health centers augmented by the \u201cinterest shown in the baby by the doctor or nurse\u2026 creates a responsive attitude in the mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Noon Hour on the Health Center Roof,” from The Second Year Book of the Child Federation<\/em> (Philadelphia, 1915<\/strong>) (Google Books). \u201cThe proximity of the Health Center to several large factories led to the opening of the roof of the Health Center into a noon roof-garden where the factory girls might come and find a comfortable and safe place in which to eat their lunches. 286 girls took advantage of this opportunity. Out of this noon hour privilege it is hoped to form a class through which personal hygiene will be taught to these girls.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe modern conception of the health center is that it is an institution from which health influences radiate,\u201d according to McKnight. The center would be \u201ca place where people may come to learn how to keep well, the physical expression of creative health effort\u2026 the next step in modern preventive medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the city\u2019s top public health official, Dr. Krusen quickly realized the value of the Child Federation\u2019s experiment at 12th and Carpenter, but also recognized that this one site was \u201ctaxed to the limit.\u201d In the summer of 1916, the city, in collaboration with the Child Federation, would open and staff an additional \u201cfive new health centers in congested districts\u201d where \u201cinfant mortality is greatest and the general infectious diseases are most prevalent.\u201d Krusen dubbed this aggressive intervention the \u201cPhiladelphia plan.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan caught on far and wide. By the end of 1919, 49 communities across the United States boasted health centers and 28 more were proposed in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo as well as other cities. By the end of 1920, no less than 385 American communities had health centers all their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where it all started at 12th<\/sup> and Carpenter Streets? Philadelphia’s Health Center No. 1 served its community for many decades before baby care gave way to car repair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, we are pleased to report, the original building<\/a> survives to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Sources: \u201cAppalling Increase in Infant Mortality\u201d, The Philadelphia Inquirer,<\/em> July 15, 1910; The First Year Book of The Child Federation Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1913-14<\/a><\/em> (1914); The Second Year Book of The Child Federation Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<\/em><\/a> (1915); The Third Year Book of the Child Federation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvani<\/em>a<\/a> (1916);  Eliza McKnight, \u201cHealth Centers,\u201d Monthly Bulletin of the Department of Public Health and Charities of the City of Philadelphia<\/em><\/a>, Volume 1, No. 43, April 1916; \u201cCampaign Starts for Better Babies,\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, February 2, 1916; “Plan to Reduce Infant Mortality,” The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, February 28, 1916; \u201cCentres Will Teach Good Health Lessons,\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, May 3, 1916; \u2018Health District Planned, The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, May 24, 1916; \u201cNine Visiting Nurses For City Appointed,\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, July 22, 1916; Michael M. Davis, Jr. \u201cThe Health Center Idea: A New Development in Public Health Work,\u201d Public Health Nursing,<\/em><\/a> Vol. 8, No. 1, Jan. 1916, pp. 22 \u2013 39; \u201c\u2019Baby Week\u2019 Starts Drive On Ignorance<\/a>,\u201d Evening Public Ledger<\/em>, May 1, 1917; Wilmer Krusen, M.D. \u201cThe Health Center Plan in Philadelphia,\u201d Health News, Monthly Bulletin<\/a><\/em>, New York State Dept. of Health, Vol. 35, February 1919; \u201cSymposium on the Health Center. I. The Historical Development<\/a>,\u201d American Journal of Public Health<\/em>, 11; 1, 1921, pp. 212-213.]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBetween four and five thousand babies die annually in this city before they reach their first birthday,\u201d lamented Dr. Wilmer Krusen, the newly installed director of Philadelphia’s Department of Health and Charities in early 1916. \u201cThis high mortality is among the ignorant, and is due to ignorance,\u201d Krusen claimed, noting that \u201chalf of these were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}