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frequently during the past year to try to keep abreast of clinical
methods and techniques in all departments. This last ten years or
so have seen enormous improvements in clinical methods; new instruments
have been introduced; new and better ways of examining the
functions of the body and mind have been found out. The things
needed for a good examination of an elderly adult are much more
complicated and expensive than those needed for a child.
So I approached the charity associations in my own Borough.
Their response was magnificent. The Teddington Old People's Welfare
Committee bought me an ear microscope which cost £47.13S.0d. The
Paint Research Station gave £10.10s.0d. towards the cost of a
retinoscope which cost £14.14s.0d. The Teddington Nursing Association
contributed £102; the Twickenham Old People's Welfare
Association £20; the Teddington Women's Conservative Association
£5. This money was paid into the Treasurer's fund and he paid the
bills for the things I needed
I spent some time around the instrument shops in London looking
for bargains. I managed to gather together some useful instruments
in almost new condition at bargain prices. The instruments for examining
eyes and ears are the most expensive and all these together
with an instrument for examining blood came to about £190.I began
to improvise on other equipment by making things at home, by lending
tools, by using my own workshop, by supplying equipment such
as transformers, microscope camera and other items. I worked at
nights and weekends making things for the clinic. I made a slit
lamp microscope for examining eyes which will do as a makeshift
substitute for a new one which might have cost over £200. The
health visitors at the clinic worked hard moving cupboards, tables,
filing cabinets and re-arranging things to get the clinic suitable for
the geriatric work. The caretaker made the curtains for the dark
room.
By a lucky stroke it happened that an old clinic at Willesden
was being given up, and the old equipment being disposed of. Out of
the rubbish I managed to obtain a small glass instrument cabinet
which after painting and cleaning was quite presentable. It was
mounted on a bracket and fixed on to the wall in the clinic. Another
small wooden cupboard was treated similarly and proved very useful.
There was an old case of eye test lenses with many missing. I
cleaned it up and tried to use it for the time being. Years ago at
the end of the war I picked up for about £3 a fairly good set of
test lenses from the war surplus disposal depot. These have been
used continuously at Hanworth clinic until recently. The
ophthalmologist there said they were not good enough for her; so a
new set has recently been bought for £66. I have had the old ones
Cleaned up,replaced where necessary out of the old willesden set
and am making it do. At Willesden there was also an old wall lamp
bracket for eye work which they threw out. I took it home, cleaned
off the rust, oiled it, renewed the wiring inside and the lampholder,
brought it back to the clinic and screwed it up on the wall.
I had thought the best place would be to begin at Church Road
Clinic in Teddington as I know most of the practitioners personally;
there are lots of streets where the people are not well off near
the clinic and within easy walking distance; and there were some
vacant sessions. There was the clinic building but apart from a
stethoscope, a blood pressure instrument, some old furniture, and
a few trivial odds and ends there was no equipment worth talking
about.
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