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Bursting at the seams

 Gravedigger memories here.


- Post war under Matron Charlotte Latta the hospital's capacity doubled as well as dining rooms and quarters for the staff p. 50

- Agnes Walsh matron from 1923 to 1954. 

- Most efforts on reducing the maternal death rate which remained alarmingly high p. 55 (in the 1920s and 1930s it was still as high as during Queen Victoria's early reign). 

- The infant death rate, which had been comparatively lower than other states during the war, rose rapidly in the early 1920s p. 56

- an emphasis on antental care in public policy ' No one appreciates more than i do othe great importance of the child welfare movement in the interests of the state and the nation. They must realise that during the resent war there is an enormous wastage of man power and that loss could best be compensated by efforts to increase the inviolability of babies born and the fitness of those who survived.' p. 57 WA Public Health Comssionser James Everitt Atkinson 1917

- Blame laid squarely at the feet of mothers who were 'diseased' or too selfish to breastfeed.

- Concerns about race fitness

- at KEMH Matron Agnes Walsh was a staunch promoter of breastfeeding, despite the rise in artificial formula marketing, but only by a healthy and nourished mother p. 61

- the 1920s plagued by concerns over hygiene

- Antenatal care became vital at KEMH, as at most hospitals around Australia. Huge increase in trained midwives. 

- an antenatal clinic built on Hensman Rd, after some bickering over who should finance it p. 69

- Seminars for expectant mothers p. 72

- Pressure placed on the hospital during the Great Depression when women whose income would have made them ineligile for entry to KEMH were now eligible, but complicating things their own health was plummeting p. 81

- Bursting at the seams, patients accommodated on verandahs p. 80

- Failing sewage systems p. 80

- Advancements in neonatal care in the interwar years. 

- The hospital during this time was run by the Matron p. 99 She faced a shortage of funds and difficult working cnditions p. 101

- Described as a very 'warm and human person' p. 102


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