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18
As so little could be done to lessen the prevalence of the scourge
efforts were directed towards reducing the mortality by providing
nursing and hospital accommodation. The Health Visitors did
excellent work in visiting affected households, giving advice whenever
necessary, and in nursing serious cases, but the help they
were able to render was small compared with what was required,
and many of the stricken families had to depend almost entirely
on neighbourly assistance, which the Health Visitors were often
successful in securing.
The question of isolating serious cases in the Isolation Hospital
was considered, but the insufficient staff and the impossibility
of securing further nursing assistance caused the project
to be abandoned. The Board of Guardians, through their Secretry,
came to our assistance and many of the more serious cases
were removed to the Infirmary for care and treatment.
There can be no doubt that the absence of efficient nursing
and medical attention, due to the demands made by the War
Office on the medical and nursing profession for our forces engaged
in the war, was responsible for a large number of deaths. Again,
the severe mental and physical strain resulting from four anxious
years of war accompanied by restrictions in diet probably redered
the community more susceptable to infection and more
liable to the complications when attacked.