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The first essential in tackling bronchitis is to give the patient an understanding of his disorder,
telling him what to do and what to avoid to prevent deterioration. The group clinic for the prevention of
bronchitis entered its second year at Pound Lane Clinic. It received patients with early evidence of chest trouble,
such as chronic cough or those who have been absent from work on account of chest colds, referred to the
clinic by general practitioners, industrial medical officers or mass X-ray units. The patients are helped to understand
the disease and are taught breathing exercises and the use of antibiotics. They are inoculated against
influenza, helped to stop smoking and given an airwick bottle containing ammonia for use at home during fog.
The national press published reports of the activities of this clinic, a short film for showing overseas was made,
and some of the patients appeared on a B.B.C. television programme concerned with smoking.
The report of the Royal College of Physicians published early in 1962 on Smoking and Health came
to the conclusion that 'cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer and bronchitis and probably contributes to
the development of coronary heart disease.' Talks have been given to school children in the early 'teens,
factory workers during lunch-hour breaks, and to political, religious and social organisations on chest diseases
and the evidence of this report.
The Council's campaign for clean air has continued, and the No. 4 (Harlesden) Smoke Control Area
was confirmed by the Council in September. We look forward to the day when the whole of Willesden will be
a smokeless zone.
Tuberculosis is certainly on the decline but is not yet defeated. As it is an infectious disease, special
precautions have to be taken. The campaign for B.C.G. vaccination of school children is progressing well. There
is also an improvement in all the wards of the borough following the more effective treatment of this disease by
the new drugs and by improvements in housing and nutrition, but the rate in the worst wards is still more than
three times as high as that in the best wards, which indicates that a further improvement in housing conditions,
particularly in reducing overcrowding, will help in the battle against this disease.
Housing has recently been accepted as an important basis for some mental illnesses. An unsatisfactory
home environment, provoking constant irritations and upheavals, can easily cause a mental disturbance.
Certainly some forms of neurosis accompany lack of privacy and other frustrations. Lack of sleep is a common
complaint where there is overcrowding and conflict between the different activities of adults and children.
There must be many children who are backward at school because of lack of sleep and because they have had
few opportunities for developing their interests in the home.
The social services can do much to prevent mental illnesses. As one medical officer has pointed out,
most mental illnesses can he dealt with in their early stages by solving social problems or easing personal relations,
or even providing more or better services like home helps. Many, particularly mothers with large
families, do not require lengthy psychiatric treatment so much as specialised help in coping with the stresses
of daily life. The extent of the social services provided will also determine how far the family and society will
tolerate eccentrics and the mentally disturbed.
The number of suicides is reaching epidemic proportions in the country, far exceeding the number of
deaths from tuberculosis and almost equalling the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents. There
were fewer suicides in Willesden in 1961 than in the three previous years, but it still meant that at least one
person committed suicide each month. To prevent depression among the elderly, often caused by loneliness
and the increasing awareness of waning powers may provoke them to suicide.^ dfBe arrange for a visit when
they suffer a bereavement involving their elderly partner. However, to take effective action against suicides
we need to know more about the effects of bereavement, loneliness, poverty, decreasing vitality and impairment
of physical health.
Through the Willesden International Friendship Committee the Council has done sterling work in
overcoming racial prejudice, now a common cause of mental disturbance. Prejudice is really, a medical problem
because it usually results from a failure of mental attitudes. It has been responsible for the death of
about six million people in Germany a few years ago and it was still killing people today. No child was born
prejudiced; it became infected when it was aged between 3 and 6 years. Parents and teachers could adopt a
positive approach so that children would grow up pleased to belong to a particular sect and race but without
harmful prejudice against other people's sects, races and colour. The Friendship League has appointed a
liason officer to deal with the problem of the coloured immigrants, particularly those associated with overcrowding
and housing. A conference has been organised to help immigrants to understand their rights and
obligations in another society. The joint social activities of coloureds and whites has been organised to bring
them together for concerts, drama groups, dinner evenings and dances, so that friendship could be fostered.
By integrating the coloured into the community we could also prevent promiscuity and so reduce the spread of
venereal diseases.
Now that infectious diseases are no longer producing the invalidism so common in the past, more attention
has been paid to the results of accidents. The Willesden Home Safety Committee has done very
useful work during the year to bring to the notice of the public the various dangers in the environment and in
the home that can so easily lead to accidents, possibly resulting in physical and mental crippling.
With the increase in the birth rate we face another crisis in the midwifery services. Although there
was a slight reduction in the percentage born in institutions the actual numbers were increased by over 300.
The hospitals and nursing homes outside Willesden actually delivered a few more babies than in the Central
Middlesex Hospital. Overworked staff cannot give enough time to deal with the emotional problems, hopes,
fears and difficulties of mothers. The mother's mental health can also be damaged if she is uncertain where