health nurses are a godsend for many mothers. On hand to offer advice and generally ease the transition into parenting, the six members of Government's community health programme team visit the home of every newborn. "One of our primary activities is to provide health education to new mothers and babies,'' explained health visitor Arabelle Fubler. "It's a requirement of ours to visit every new baby and mother -- whether it's the mother's first, fifth or tenth child, we make a visit.'' With six health visitors spread around the Island, Mrs. Fubler added that their duties are not limited to children, but also extend to senior citizens. Said Lovette Lovell, another of the Island's health visitors: "Community health nurses provide education, are involved in the promotion of health activities to families and generally care for persons from zero to old age. We share literature but we're really just there to assist the family's transfer to parenting so that it can be as easy as possible. We also let them know of the community resources available to families -- especially Government ones.'' With children, great concentration is paid from the time of birth to the age of five, said Mrs. Fubler. Over that period, mothers are taught health education in areas such as feeding, and receive advice on the care and management of their infants and/or children.

Explained Anita Furbert, a third health visitor: "We anticipate what the needs of the children will be and offer information. Part of what we hope to achieve, is to be able to anticipate problems before they occur and make any necessary referrals depending on those issues that we might identify.'' Added Mrs. Lovell: "We're trying to promote what actions in babies are healthy to families. For example, a lot of parents get upset if babies cry, so we let them know what are and are not healthy sleep patterns. Some children might be cholic. So we let them know when that might develop, what it is and what they can do. So we basically give them the information to assist them as they make the adjustment to that phase with a well child. "But we visit every baby born so we also see those born to at-risk families. And in certain of those instances, we must liaise with social service workers.'' For those children which are at risk -- babies born to drug addicted parents, to teenaged mothers etc., follow-up visits are made so there is continual assessment of the situation, said Mrs. Fubler. "We make referrals to the appropriate agencies; whether it's social services, teen services, social assistance or whatever.'' Added Mrs. Lovell: "We also see a number of families which are faced with challenges such as babies born with birth defects. Obviously we would have to visit them more often to offer support and guidance and refer them to appropriate agencies. Also, sometimes the housing is inadequate for the child.

So we assist the family so they know what resources they have to go to get financial assistance, etc. "With respect to public protection, we do surveillance to identify challenges early and intervene, or get the necessary We do it all functioning. For example we try and help adolescent mothers finish their education or guide them to getting a skill. It's a way of protecting the public from another social or financial problem.'' Similarly, homes for the elderly, senior citizens living privately and also nurseries, are inspected to ensure that everything runs smoothly whether they have the financial means or not. "We visit to see if they need assistance,'' said Mrs. Fubler. "We also assess the elderly either for day care institution or to see if there are any services to which we can refer them. We also offer social assistance, letting them know of clubs as many are lonely.'' Because of the nature of their work, she added, health visitors can also aid in research. "For example, we might have a lot of diabetics that we visit, so we can easily assist any agency investigating that area.'' Added Mrs. Lovell: "We also have information on the quality of the environment. We can say more than it's a 15-year-old having a baby. We can answer whether or not she lives with her mother, whether or not she is still in school and whether or not she has lots of support.'' HEALTH HTH