Advancing the Kingdom

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The results have been almost uniformly
excellent when we consider the precarious
condition of the babies on receiving. Again,
cases that appear utterly hopeless, have
improved wonderfully and grown up as
strong healthy babes. The mortality has been
low. Three deaths were due to intercurrent
[sic] diseases.
The aspired purpose is to encourage
breast feeding and to prevent infantile
diseases by giving proper instructions;
and trusting that each mother will be a
missionary in spreading the gospel of proper
feeding and infant hygiene.
[submitted by] JULIUS ROTTECK, M.D.
[Report of a Visiting nurse]
There were 13 stations the past year in the
city and we ranked third in size for the year,
but at one time in the summer we were first.
The station at the Laboratory is first and the
Jewish Alliance second for the year.
At the Baby Show, held last Labor Day at
the Carnival, we made $64.00. As [a] result
many mothers have heard of the milk and
have come to us.
To undertake a campaign, whose sole
object is to fight high infant mortality,
requires the fullest co-operation of the
mothers in the proper care and feeding of
the child. A mother may be willing to do, but
she must often be taught what and how to do
the proper thing for the baby, and that is our
greatest endeavor.
To say that so many babies were given
modified milk does not signify so much, until
you know something of the condition of some
of the infants when brought to the station,
and the difficulty encountered in dealing
with the ignorance of the mothers, and the
poor sanitary conditions surrounding them.
A brief history of the following cases may
be of value:
One, a three months’ old baby of an Oriental
peddler woman. The baby’s condition
was very serious; emaciation extreme,
shriveled skin marking the condition of
the bones, intestinal disorder added to the
gravity of the situation, weight 7 pounds.
As the baby lived in a hovel of filth and
squalor, the mother unable to be with the
child during the day and ignorant as to its
care when home; a great deal depended
upon the district nurse in carrying out our
instructions. The baby was placed on the
weakest formula of milk and gradually given
stronger; with improvement of digestion
there was a gradual increase in weight.
Present weight at 13 months is 18 pounds.
The ‘Number 13’ baby at the Baby Show
last fall: One month old, fed on condensed
milk, mother in last stages of consumption
at its birth and who died when the baby was
two and one-half months old of that disease.
Emaciation extreme: weight 7 pounds;
at birth 10 pounds; fairly good sanitary
conditions surrounding it. Started on milk
suited to its condition with gradual increase
in weight and general health. Now at the age
of 8 months it weighs 19.5 pounds.
We feel thoroughly confident that Pure
Milk given in proper modifications saved
these lives and many more like them. We
could relate the history of many more cases
similar to the above, but feel these will give
an idea of the work we are doing with the
Pure Milk at Kingdom House.
An Oriental peddler woman with whose
family we have been working for some time,
said one day to the nurse, that she loved her
so much that she didn’t know whether she
should kiss her or what she should do. The
nurse told her not to mind, but to just be
kind to some one else.
An Assyrian boy, whose father had just
died, came late one morning for the baby’s
milk, and upon inquiry, the nurse learned
that he was staying home from school to
keep his grandmother from beating her head
against the wall, and pulling her hair, as she
wept over her son-in-law’s death. The wife
in this family, when asked by the nurse last
summer why she never came to the church
Chapter One : Beginnings (1902-1927)
Report of Visiting Nurse
Total number of patients during year. .....680
New patients.............................................222
Deaths.........................................................12
Sent to the hospital.....................................36
Sent to other institutions............................12
Visits made to the hospital.........................55
Total number of visits to the sick.......... 1290
Total number of visits received...............603
Garments given out..................................265
About 75 dolls given to Pure Milk
babies Christmas.
Baskets given out.......................................26
Sick room necessities loaned...................187
Number of times diet given out...............458
Tuberculosis cases reported.......................22
During the year 250 prescriptions were issued
for Pure Milk and 165 babies on the milk.
The maximum number of babies on the milk
during the summer was 66. The minimum
number during the healthy season was 29.
Bottles of pure milk sold.................... 65,047
Bottles of pure milk donated............... 9,336
Total bottles of pure milk distributed.74,383
Bottles barley water............................. 3,596
Cash Collections.............................. $786.13
“Every babe is given a
thorough physical
examination, weight
is recorded, note
made of infant’s
environments, and
mother’s intelligence.
P rescriptions for milk
is [sic] issued, and
brief instruction in
infant hygiene given.
A promise is secured
from the mother that
she will return the
baby to be weighed.
A gradual gain of
weight is an incentive
for returning .”
– Julius Rotteck, M.D.
Director of the P ure
Milk Clinic, Kingdom
House
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