Santa Fe Maternal Health Center.

Privately funded health center founded in 1936 as the Santa Fe Maternal Health Center to provide free and low cost pre- and postnatal maternal care and infant care and to distribute birth control information to low income families. The Name was later changed to Santa Fe Maternal & Child Health Center.

From the description of Papers, 1936-1980 (University of New Mexico-Main Campus). WorldCat record id: 18912627

"A Tea Party"' at the Well Child Clinic (Box 34, Scrapbook 1).

The Santa Fe Maternal & Child Health Center (SFM&CHC) was founded in 1937 in Santa Fe, New Mexico under the name Santa Fe Maternal Health Center.

The Center was founded in response to the alarming infant mortality rate in Santa Fe, the highest in the nation. The original intent was to provide free or low cost pre- and postnatal maternal care and infant care to the indigent. After a visit to New Mexico by Margaret Sanger in 1937, the founders were determined to make birth control available to clinic patients as well. Birth control education and distribution was not a popular idea in Northern New Mexico, but the founders decided that the new center would affiliate with the Clinical Research Bureau of the American Birth Control League in New York.

The clinic first opened in October of 1937 with a paid staff of one full-time registered nurse. No Santa Fe doctor was willing to distribute birth control, so Dr. Evelyn Frisbie of Albuquerque donated her services by driving to Santa Fe on Sundays to hold free clinics. All clerical and reception duties, as well as management and fund raising work was done by members of the Board of Directors and other volunteers.

The Center soon began to provide relief services to its patients and the need to expand programs became evident. Women went for obstetric and gynecological care, but many other medical problems were discovered during examinations. Also, mothers brought their sick children, many needing better nutrition and adequate clothing as well as medical care. The center began to distribute food, milk and clothing in response. They referred patients for other medical services, convincing specialists to reduce their fees and raising funds to cover hospital and laboratory expenses. In addition, the board members found paid employment for several clinic patients or their husbands. They also provided new mothers with layettes and showed them how to make simple but clean baby beds out of cardboard and newspapers. Nurses made home visits to care for the sick and to evaluate living conditions.

The Clinical Research Bureau withdrew affiliation with the SFM&CHC in 1938, arguing that the Center's emphasis was on general medicine, not birth control. At the same time, it was impossible to get support from the New Mexico Department of Public Health, because the clinic was distributing birth control. The board of directors began a strong and successful fund raising campaign which, combined with active volunteerism, has served to keep the clinic running. Fund raising activities have included direct mailings, sponsoring theatrical events and a thrift shop started in 1947 to sell donated used clothing and household items at low cost.

The various programs offered by the center have changed in response to the needs of the indigent community and the availability of duplicate services. They have included a visiting nurses program, an eye clinic, operative diagnosis and a surgical clinic, free physical examinations for public school children, a pediatric dental clinic, Christmas parties for children of low income families and a loan closet which rented sick room equipment at very low or no cost. In 1955 the board officially changed the name to the Santa Fe Maternal & Child Health Center to better reflect the extent of their services.

The main functions of the Center were the maternal and pediatric (sick and well child) clinics offered from the opening of the SFM&CHC until the late 1970s. Clinic operation depended on considerable donations of time by doctors and clerical staff. Falling volunteerism and the subsequent rising cost for paid personnel were problems that the Center's Board of Directors had to deal with through the late 1960s and 1970s. State and city grants kept the clinics operating, but when grant funding dried up, the Board had to cut services. The maternal and pediatric clinic services were available elsewhere through federal, state and other private programs, so the decision was made to drop those programs at the SFM&CHC after 40 years of service to the community in those areas.

The Center's services now meet the continued need for affordable dental care for low income families and for sex education among teenagers in the community. The center is now working with the Santa Fe Public Schools to provide free clinics at high schools. In this way the SFM&CHC continues to provide the Santa Fe community with health care for the medically indigent and with medical social services.

From the guide to the Santa Fe Maternal Health Center Records, 1936-1980, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)