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138
dressing rooms; storage rooms and an adequate supply of chemical
closets provided. As the First Aid Unit formed really a building
within a building the Electricity Department lit the whole Unit by
electricity from a separate meter; secondary means of lighting was
provided by means of hurricane lamps. The Electricity Department
also supplied for the First Aid rooms electric cookers which served a
dual purpose, namely, heating the rooms when necessary and boiling
hot water for sterilizing and washing purposes.
The General Purposes Committee of the Council at a meeting on
5th October, agreed that the fitting out of the East India Dock Road
Baths be completed and then dismantled and that the fitting out of the
Roman Road Baths and Glengall Grove Baths as First Aid Posts be
completed and used for training purposes for First Aid personnel. The
Baths were used by the few members of St. John Ambulance Brigade
and other persons who had volunteered for First Aid duty. By the
25th November both these Posts were dismantled and stored ready for
re-erect ion.
The following equipment was purchased:—The usual drugs and
dressings, sterilisers, splints, sufficient surgical and medical instruments
to carry out minor surgery, blankets, hot water bottles, dressing
gowns, etc.
The fact that these First Aid Posts were produced and equipped
within a week was entirely due to the loyalty and whole-hearted cooperation
of members of the staff of my own department and of the staffs
of the Borough Surveyor's, Baths and Electricity Departments. The
Borough Treasurer's Department supplied an officer who made a most
efficient quarter-master and took charge of all supplies.
The photographs give some idea of the method of construction and
final appearances of some of the rooms at the First Aid Posts at Roman
Read and Glengall Grove Baths.
Although the Home Office had not envisaged the presence of Doctors
at First Aid Posts it was felt strongly that Doctors should be available
and accordingly on Sunday, 25th September, the President of the Tower
Hamlets Division of the British Medical Association was approached
and as a result a rota of local general practitioners who volunteered for
work at First Aid Posts was prepared within a short time.