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39
HOME HELP SERVICE
Miss J. E. Heath
Home Help Supervisor
"This is our special duty, that if anyone specially needs our
help we should give him such help to the utmost of our power."
Cicero.
What will posterity write and say about the development of
the Home Help Service? Already the early struggles for recognition
are dim, standards and values have changed and today the
Service, far from settling down, is on the brink of new and exciting
changes.
The emphasis in the future must be on economy of time and
energy. In this age of specialisation all skills must be fully
developed and to achieve this, training is essential. The
Institute of Home Help Organisers have established a training
course for organisers. Three of the Assistant Organisers have
completed the course during the year and are now awaiting examination
results. A student organiser was recommended by the
Institute to apply to Croydon for in-service training. She was
accepted and took the examination with the established staff.
Plans are being prepared for an in-service training scheme for
Home Helps to set a standard of work and an understanding of the
responsibilities involved in caring for the sick and aged who are
so dependent on the Home Help Service. It is recognised that one
standard cannot be applied in the 2,000 or more homes attended
every year hy Home Helps. At present energy is sometimes misdirected
in trying to achieve near miracles in long-neglected
homes, when perhaps the health and happiness of the patient are
better met by the provision of nourishing meals and understanding
companionship. From this established point, a change of
attitude can often be achieved, for there are many reasons for
dirt and disorder, not one of the least being the loneliness
that besets the aged and infirm. It is not very difficult to
understand that nothing matters if nobody cares. Training will
not make a Home Help; the desire to help must always be the
starting point, but the advantages of being trained to use
skills and energies cannot be emphasised too highly. The Home
Help of the future will take her place in the team of domiciliary
workers, trained and confident to carry out her own work
and accept the special instructions of her professional leaders,
the General Practitioner and the District Nurse.