Pediatric Clinic Opens New Branch

With 600 children already reaping the benefits of its Cambridge headquarters, the Harvard Pediatric clinic has opened the doors of a Harvardevens branch. The clinic already lists between 200 and 300 patients and is free to all residents of the village.

Dr. Francis C. McDonald, professor of Pediatrics at Tufts, conducts two sessions a week while a doctor from the local Clinic directs a third. The purpose of the new addition to the Clinic is more of a research nature, for the small, closely-knitted Harvardevens community affords an excellent opportunity for close study, whereas Cambridge is more un-integrated and inconvenient for research.

Harvardevens Open To All

Unlike the original Clinic, which limits itself to the children of veteran students, the Harvardevens outpost makes no such restrictions. Meanwhile, the Mount Auburn Street center is currently servicing 582 tots, who come in to be measured on the paper giraffes which line the walls and partake of the free lollipops in true hospital fashion.

"We reward the babies for being good," said one official. "Some of them come in ask for lollipops before they've been coming here even a month."

Since its September 15 unveiling, the Clinic has added immunization, home visits, sick care, and hospitalization to its range of services. In addition, a medical social worker spends one day a week in Cambridge. She only listens to family problems which have a direct bearing on a child's health, for the Clinic's prime interest is the welfare of its infant charges.

More than a third of the babies who roam the Clinic's spacious quarters, which formerly housed a Russian War Relief center and a various string of restaurants, are less than a year old. Two 13-year olds used to be on the list but a lack of proper facilities has since forced the Clinic to set a 12-year age limit.

Moreover, the children's hospital can't accept kids over 12 in case hospitalization is necessary, as the Clinic doctors are pediatricians. Dr. Allan M. Butler, professor of Pediatrics and chief of the medical service of the Massachusetts General Hospital, which supervises the Clinic's activities, is top dog at the Clinic.

He is aided by a staff of nine which includes three doctors, two nurses, two secretaries, a statistician, and a clerk. When a veteran registers, he is sent an appointment for a routine checkup, although sick care is administered at any time.

"We have a lot of beautiful babies coming in here," a secretary boasted. "They draw pictures for our walls ... some of them would like to draw right on the walls." She bewailed the fact that not all veterans are taking advantage of the Clinic's free services.

"We try to get our work done in between the kids running around and getting tangled up in the telephone wires," she went on. "Of course, we have to take some precautions," and she pointed to the fenced-off stairs.

The clinic was initiated in the fall as a part of a nation-wide study conducted by the Federal Department of Public Health. Through the co-operation of the Massachusetts Health Department, doctors were obtained from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.