Florence, Marc, Alice, and Theresa Healthy Bodies and Domestic Doctoring, 1910s to the 1920s

• Published in: Small Matters Vol. 39; pp. 46 - 66
• Main Author: Gleason, Mona
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Canada MQUP 2013; McGill-Queen's University Press
• Subjects: Anatomy; Behavioral sciences; Biological sciences; Biology; Childhood; Children; Developmental biology; Diseases; Economic disciplines; Economics; Employment; Extremities; Families; Family members; Health and wellness; Health sciences; Human developmental stages; Human populations; Human societies; Infections; Infectious diseases; Labor economics; Legs; Lower extremity; Medical conditions; Medical personnel; Mothers; Nurses; Occupations; Parents; Persons; Polio; Population studies; Public health; Public safety; Quarantines; Social institutions; Social sciences; Sociology; Viral diseases; Women
• ISBN: 0773541322; 9780773541320
• DOI: 10.1515/9780773588547-004

As medical professionals worked to establish pediatric medicine as a legitimate specialization over the early decades of the twentieth century, children and their families encountered many health challenges. Multi-pronged responses to high rates of infant mortality, disease, and infection in the early twentieth century reflected new expectations for children’s health and welfare, and supported a growing network of professionals dedicated to the task. Public health officials, doctors, nurses, social workers, well-baby clinic staff, school administrators, teachers, and others interacted directly and indirectly with families to improve health. As Cynthia Comacchio has argued, “child nurture and family health became state interests”