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23.
5. Full-time and part-time Clubs keep hands and minds occupied (with
handicrafts, games, papers etc.), as we1
_+] as providing meals (two
course lunch 10d, tea 1d, cakes 1d, etc.), outings to sea and
pantomimes, etc
4* A Holiday Home in Sussex where every pensioner is encouraged to spend
a fortnight once or twice a year for 10/- to 15/- a week.
5. Library books are regularly taken to and collected from the homebound.
6. S.O.S. Cards (containing all particulars of the individual) are given
to each one living alone.
7. If the above aids fail to keep the old person well enough to remain at
home, the visitors contact the Almoner at St. Matthew*s Hospital,
giving details of home conditions, ailments, etc., and if she is in
doubt as to urgency of admission, Dr. Stern visits from the hospital,
thus deciding degree of priority.
The Almoner keeps our Welfare staff informed of all -
(a) put on waiting list,
(b) admitted to hospital,
(c) discharged from hospital, - sometimes even before discharge, so that
Welfare staff can lay on Home Help, District Nurse, etc., and ensure
cleanliness and dryness of home (discharge is thus effected with more
confidence at an earlier stage), If in need of a recuperative
holiday, this is timed to coincide with the discharge, and the patient
taken direct to our Holiday Hone in our own coach kept for the purpose.
(d) deaths, - the remaining partner then receives extra attention from the
Welfare staff, while if the deceased had lived alone, disposal of his
goods is arranged and the accommodation rapidly re-let after
disinfection;,
The numbers of persons attending the Holiday Home at Copthorne during
1953 were as follow
Adults 2 06
10-18 years 18
5-10 years 54
9 months - 5 years 131
Under 9 months 52
Old people 212
Conference members 16