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33
TUBERCULOSIS AFTER-CARE
I am indebted to Miss Bridger, Almoner of the Chest Clinic,
for the following reports:-
Arrangements under the Council' s scheme for prevention and
after care of tuberculosis patients continued as in previous
years. Bedding, free milk in certain cases, maintenance in
colonies, and provision of garden shelters were some of the
services supplied through the Local Health Authority.
As always, close contact was maintained between the Almoner's
Department and the National Assistance Board, to ensure that
patients were able to take full advantage of the special provisions
available to them. Similarly, the closest liaison was
maintained with the Ministry of Labour's Disabled Resettlement
Department to ensure that the patient's future health was safeguarded
by placing him in suitable employment in proper surroundings.
In some cases, a change of employment was arranged; in
others training at a Government Training Centre was needed before
this could be done, and in other cases again, a course at the
Industrial Rehabilitation Unit was the first necessity, in order
to help the patient regain his confidence and to decide on the
work or training most suited to his individual requirements.
Statutory provisions for the welfare of the patient and his
family were only part of the story. Inevitably there were gaps
people who just failed to fall into this or that category, or
families who had needs over and above those covered from Government
sources. To help meet these, over £250 was raised on individual
appeals to voluntary funds.
The outstanding development of the year was undoubtedly the
recognition of the increasing, rather than decreasing need for
voluntary help, which expressed itself, in the formation of the
Croydon Tuberculosis Care Committee. The Inaugural Meeting was
held on March 31st, 1955 when His Worship the Mayor kindly consented
to become our president, and from that date much hard
work has been undertaken by the Committee members. Fund raising
was, and still is, our first concern and most of the period
covered by this report had to be devoted to that difficult but
essential task. We cannot overestimate our debt of gratitude to
the Norwood Round Table, who sponsored the Committee, and by
whose efforts nearly £1,500 was raised on our behalf at the Midnight
Matinee at the Davis Theatre in November. Our first act was
to provide Christmas parcels of groceries for 190 patients and
their families, and by the end of 1955, practical schemes had
been drawn up to send gifts of coal, pay fares for relatives
to visit patients in sanatoria, and to arrange a summer holiday
programme. The possibilities opened up by this new voluntary
effort are endless, and we are confident that the welfare of the
patients will gain much from this organisation before another
year has passed.