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Report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1939. 5
three Medical Officers of the Council and other responsible
officers of the Department has been arranged, so that one
medical and two other officers of the Department are available
for duty in the Borough Control Room, throughout the
24 hours, to take charge of these services.
5. The collection of Civilian War Dead and the arrangements
for transporting them to the temporary mortuaries.
6. The organisation and administration of the Gas
Identification Service.
7. The training in first aid and anti-gas of the personnel
of business firms.
8. The supervision of the food supplies, under war
time conditions, by the Food Inspectors.
9. The local arrangements for the evacuation of children
and expectant mothers in co-operation with the London
County Council.
10. The medical inspection of war refugees.
Even before September, 1939, certain members of the staff
of the Department, especially those engaged in the training of
persons who had enrolled for duty in the Civil Defence Services,
had done much valuable work, much of it in their own time,
towards helping with the organisation of these Services. When
war broke out the whole of the staff were called upon to shoulder
additional duties and responsibilities. The establishment of the
First Aid Services, the setting up of duty rotas and the continuance
of a large amount of training for untrained members of
the new Services have necessitated additional work for all members
of the staff, under conditions which are new, unfamiliar, even
uncomfortable, and often involving considerable periods of overtime.
I cannot speak too highly of the unselfish manner in which
the whole of the staff have shouldered these additional and
unfamiliar duties, with a devotion to duty which has been a credit
to all concerned.
F. G. CALEY,
Medical Officer of Health.