View report page

27
served with meals at a charge of 1s. a meal. In addition, the Women's
Voluntary Service maintains a "Meals on Wheels "service, taking meals
to some old people confined to their homes. There are a number of old
people's clubs in this area, including six "Evergreen" Clubs run by the
British Red Cross Society and four "Darby and Joan" Clubs run by the
Women's Voluntary Service.
The Harrow Old People's Welfare Committee, on which are representatives
of the many agencies in the district helping the aged in any
way, helps to link up the work of these organisations. The Committee,
last year, appointed Mrs. Maxwell as the Co-ordinating Officer. A home
visiting service has been set up under which arrangements are made to
recruit visitors who will keep in touch more specially with lonely old
people. Although then, there is no official agency responsible for seeing
to the needs of these old people who are not ill enough to need the
services of the Regional Hospital Board or of the Welfare Committee,
much is being done in various ways, mostly by voluntary effort. These
activities of the voluntary agencies, tentative and experimental as some
of them must be, are sufficiently flexible to be freely adaptable. It is
from such beginnings that, in time no doubt, a comprehensive service
will develop just in the same way as to-day's extensive maternity and
child welfare service, which became in time the responsibility of local
authorities, grew from the small beginnings started by the enthusiasm of
those giving voluntary service.
AMBULANCE SERVICE
The County Ambulance Service now operates in two distinct
branches, namely, the accident branch and the sick removal branch. The
accident branch is operated from the Fire Stations, the emergency telephone
facilities being used for the making of calls. The sick removal
service is to be based on 10 depots throughout the County; the local
station which is in course of erection is at Imperial Drive. Calls, whether
made by doctors, those at nursing homes, or others in the Edgware,
Arnold, Wordsworth, and Grimsdyke telephone exchange areas, are made
to the Fire Station at The Mall, Kenton (Wordsworth 7721); and in the
Harrow, Byron, Pinner. Hatch End, and Northwood areas, to the Harrow
Fire Station (Pinner 8900).
Ambulance transport is intended to be provided only when the
person for whom it is asked is suffering from illness, is proceeding for
medical treatment and nursing and is unfit to travel by ordinary means.
LABORATORY SERVICE
The examination of clinical material of public health significance
is carried out free of cost to the patient and to the doctor at the Central
Public Health Laboratory, Colindale Avenue, London, N.W.9 (Tel. No.:
Colindale 6041 and 4081). In general the examination is carried out of
material which will be of aid in the early diagnosis of infectious conditions,
one purpose of the laboratory being to carry out investigations of
public health significance. It is not intended that other clinical material