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42
HOME HELP SERVICE
Miss J. E. Heath
Home Help Supervisor
In many aspects 1959 has been another year of quiet activity
The Home Help Service continues to expand but like the passing
of time it is unnoticed in the moment but clearly evident in
retrospect.
The year 1959 will be remembered mainly for the experimental
scheme of reducing the charge for full time Home Help Service
for home confinement to £2.0.0d. per week. This scheme proved
very popular and was successful in reducing to some extent the
demand for accommodation in local maternity units.
Greater prominence is given every year through the medium of
the press, radio and television to the care of the aged and the
responsibility of the community towards its aged population. In
the changing social structure the Home Help is filling the place
vacated by relatives and neighbours who are no longer available
during the day to give their time. Unlike so many developments
where mechanisation eliminates the use of human hand and mind,
in caring for humanity emotional factors can never be replaced.
A genuine desire to help the sick and handicapped is not
diminished because the responsibility is moved from one group of
society to another and the work of the Home Help Service is
motivated and maintained by this desire. Many unrecorded acts
of kindness to the lonely aged of Croydon are performed every
year by Home Helps in addition to their official duties, despite
the fact that not a few older people decry the standards of the
present day worker, however efficient. The perfect patient invariably
receives the services of a perfect Home Help but it is
also necessary to attend those who find all their fellow beings
intolerable. The understanding and perseverance shown by Home
Helps in the face of such difficulties can easily be understood.
Every year the number of old persons remaining on the books
increases, as does the proportion who become more frail and
require additional help with even simple tasks. To most old
people their home is the pivot of existence, consequently
domiciliary care is favoured. The Home Help Service now firmly
established in this field cannot remain static; future expansion
and development are inevitable as the aged population increases.