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173
possible person to tackle the inherent and sometimes complicated
problems of the aged. The reasons were substantial. A health
visitor is not merely a qualified nurse. Additional training, fitting
her for her profession, enables her to deal with all members of the
family from the latest addition to the ageing grandparents, covering
both the emotional and intellectual aspects as well as the
physical. Health education and individual counselling form her
stock-in-trade which, together, constitute the instruments for
guidance and support. Furthermore, for over half a century, she
has laboured under a statutory duty to visit every family where
there is a young child and it has been her responsibility to assess
and decide on matters now considered to be "social". Contrariwise,
a social worker depends largely upon an individual's recognition
of a problem and his seeking professional help to solve it. Indeed,
social work is essentially an amalgam of many fragments of many
disciplines and to divide the task of tearing for the aged into
separate health and social spheres of influence will surely prove to
have been wholly unjustified and inimical to the best interests of
our elderly. The current and almost indecent haste to expand
previously restricted financial resources to achieve this dichotomy
will not necessarily produce the best service for the secret of success
in this field is not to be found in money alone.
We need to treat our elderly as responsible individuals and to
respect their desire to remain independent as long as possible.
Let us give heed to what they themselves want and not be too
dogmatic about what we think they require. Let us pay more than
lip service to a regard for human dignity and good human relationships,
remembering that aberrant conduct of the aged often stems
from our own attitudes towards them. Much of the mundane,
menial and sometimes downright unwholesome tasks performed
on behalf of the elderly in their twilight years are carried out by
relatives and friends—they deserve our full and unfailing support.

Visiting
Visits made during 1971, amounting to 15,630, show a decrease
of 14.5% from those of the previous year. This fall is due partly
to the introduction of the new Social Services Act of 1970 and
partly to the secondment of two geriatric visitors to full-time
courses prior to transfer to the Social Services Directorate.