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We continue to care in some cases for children—especially those of widowers who
leave home early in the morning. The helps go in and give breakfast and supervise
children getting ready and where necessary take younger children to school.
Every endeavour is made to help in cases of acute illness but when the charge is made
known and help is only likely to be required for a short term, other arrangements are
often made for this period.
One problem met not infrequently in maternity cases is that caused by the need to
charge for the service. Many people are under an impression that it is a Tree' service and
do not realise that the attendance allowance given in a home confinement is intended to
help towards paying for such things as the home help service. A free service is provided
for expectant mothers suffering from toxaemia of pregnancy. Help for this type of case
is proving invaluable—it does enable the family to be kept together, especially the young
children who are unhappy at being moved elsewhere. At the same time the mother can
obtain the rest which is essential for her.
Although every care is taken to engage the right type of home help, and all the
difficulties of the service are explained, not until the help is actually working is it
fully understood. Every endeavour is made to make the helps feel that they are an
important contribution to the social service and it is thought that if another title could
be given to them they would not feel that they were regarded as the 4 charwoman' or
4 cleaner ' as is so often quoted.
A home help is a very kindly person, doing all she can to make life easier and happier
for the people with whom she comes into contact. Confusion and forgetfulness in the
elderly sometimes creates difficulties for the home help. For instance a confused old
lady may accuse a home help of being responsible for a missing article she herself has
mislaid and until it is found the home help is uneasy and upset as she feels the accusation
is a reflection on her honesty and integrity. Fortunately these cases are rare although
they do happen.
Training courses continue to be held at Chelmsford and all who attend find them
most instructive and helpful to their work. The journey to Chelmsford and back each
day is found to be rather a burden to the staff. Perhaps arrangements for the holding of
local courses would help to solve this difficulty.
It is not generally realised that personal care is given by domestic helps outside
working hours. It is often brought to notice from an outside source that week-end
meals had been provided and taken to a sick person in need. In many cases, the more
able bodied old people have been collected by the domestic help and taken to their own
home in order to be given a change of scenery and to relieve their loneliness. Many
Christmas dinners were supplied and delivered by the helps on Christmas Day.
Owing to the severe weather at Christmas, it was not possible to have an evening
social.
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