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The greater proportion of patients sought advice because they
had a baby of less than a year old and were anxious to space
their pregnancies.
No failures of the methods advised were reported during the
year.
4. HOME HELP SERVICE. At a time when social services
are being extended and while many Authorities are commencing
a Home Help Service, a review of the scheme working in Wembley
may afford an opportunity of judging the measure of success
which has been achieved since the Council set out to establish a
Service in 1937.
The service provides capable "home managers" who, where
necessary, take practically complete charge of the home during
the fourteen days following the mother's confinement. The great
majority are cases of home confinement but in exceptional circumstances
Helps are provided when the confinement takes place in
hospital. With the existing shortage of hospital accommodation
and the high birth rate the need for such women to carry out
this work is obviously great.
The work involves all the usual duties of a housewife with,
in addition, the care of a patient in bed. The recently delivered
mother needs special attention and the provision of well cooked
meals, and her room requires daily cleaning. By careful explanation
care is taken to ensure that no midwifery nursing procedure
is undertaken by the Home Help. Preparation for the daily
visit of the midwife, shopping, cooking and washing are all in
the day's work of a Home Help, and other children in the family
(if any) require attention also.
Necessary qualifications for the work include, of course,
honesty, cleanliness and common sense, but such accomplishments
as the ability to cook, launder and manage children happily,
together with a sense of humour and a desire to help others, are
more than useful attributes. Results suggest that in Wembley
good progress has been made in attracting suitable women for
the work.
Wembley Home Helps are Council employees, financial
recovery being made according to the economic circumstances
scale. In 1937 only those families who came within the Council's
free scale were considered for this service; extension has now been
made to include all income groups. During 1948, Home Helps
were supplied in 123 maternity cases, compared with 27 in 1938
(the first complete year). The provision of white overalls to be
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