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WOMAN SANITARY INSPECTOR'S WORK
Miss Middlebrooke reports as follows
Notice should be drawn to the diminution in She numbers
of verminous cases visited in 1918 as compared with previousyears.
This would seem to be due to the improved financial
position of the working classes earning war wages. With greater
prosperity in the home,, better bedding and changes of bed
clothing, better and more frequent changes of personal clothing
for the family, have been provided. In less prosperous times
many families have to be content with just one set of olothing,
with no means of cleansing except when the children are in bed:
and the spare clothing being useful to pawn it usually remains
at the pawnshop most of its time. Thus it is easily seen that
it is far more difficult under these circumstances to keep as
clean and free from vermin as in more prosperous times. Of
course even with prosperity there are dirty families whose
thriftless improvident ways would never mend except under constant
supervision and compulsion. These are fortunately few,
but the few give a lot of trouble and cause a great many visits
to be made, " Excessive drinking habits are usually responsible
for this type of case.
During 1918 Scabies was very prevalent amongst school
children and their families, and the cleansing station was kept
far busier than if we had had the normal numbers of verminous
cases. A good many cases occurred in clean houses and were
evidently school infeoted. Soabies is usually traceable to one
of the scholars at the school having had a relative home on leave
from the Front. In all the oases the bedding has either been
moved for disinfection or thoroughly boiled and treated at
home, or destroyed and new bedding obtained.
Owing to scarcity of labour, great leniency has had to
be exercised in the cleansing of walls and ceilings of Registered
Houses, cleansing only being enforoed where extremely necessary
instead of the frequent cleansing required by the Bye-laws,
The Registered Houses were not so liable to overcrowding as in
1917, owing to more housing acconmodation being provided bv the
Government.
There were numerous complaints to be dealt with during
1918 of old people who were in a neglected, verminous and dirty
condition. Many were old age pensioners, whose income is so inadequate
now-a-days to provide even food, let alone money for
attendance or cleansing purposes. The only thing for these old
people seems the much dreaded Union Workhouse (after appeals to
friends or relations have failed).
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