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3. Health Education.
Health Education in the field of Maternity and Child Welfare prior to 1950 was
largely a matter of personal advice given to individuals by Medical Officers and Health
Visitors in the clinics and in the home. More recently this has been supplemented by
talks to groups of mothers by Health Visitors during clinic sessions. These talks,
which have covered a variety of subjects, have been made as informal as possible, and
interest has been maintained by the use of visual aids. A magnetic blackboard and
models representing various basic foods, models to illustrate infant diets and to
demonstrate the causes of accidents in the home, film strips and latterly a film
projector have all proved valuable adjuncts to the spoken word. In addition, the
Superintendent Nursing Officer and her Deputy have given talks to Mothers' Clubs and
other similar bodies.
Although during the past three years new methods have been introduced and the
group technique has been used to a greater extent, it is important that the main
emphasis in this work should continue to be upon advice to individual mothers during
routine visits to the home. Such advice, given with a full knowledge of the domestic
background and applied to the mother's individual problems, must necessarily be of more
value than the generalisations which have to be employed when dealing with the group.
The home visit is the only method of reaching the small proportion of mothers who will
not attend the clinic, and who are usually those most in need of help. It is also the
most effective method of instructing the much larger proportion of mothers who attend the
clinics irregularly, or only during the very early months of the child's life.
In the field of general Health Education, lectures, often with films, are given
by Medical Officers to Parent-Teacher Associations, Youth Clubs and other organisations,
whenever the opportunity presents itself. In addition, through the agency of the West
Ham Clean Pood Advisory Association, which was formed in 1950 and sponsored by the
Council, an active campaign against food poisoning is being carried on. This has included
a Clean Pood Exhibition, press advertisement, circular letters to food traders, and
lectures to food handlers and other groups. During 1952 much of the effort of the
Association has been directed towards the education of the public with regard to the
methods which should be adopted in the home to prevent food which has been supplied in a
safe condition from becoming contaminated before it is eaten. For this purpose it was
decided to adopt a long-term policy, and to concentrate on the education of the youth of
the community, who are the future food handlers whether as members of the food industry or
as housewives in their own homes. In conformity with this policy, a considerable number
of lectures and film shows have now been given to youth organisations throughout the
Borough, and the interest shown in the subject by the audiences has been most gratifying.
SECTION 29: DOMESTIC HELP.
The Domestic Help Service, started during the war, was placed on an organised
footing early in 1947. It is administered by a Home Help Organiser and two assistants, all
of whom undertake clerical, visiting and interviewing work as appropriate. Commencing with
the equivalent of two whole-time Home Helps in 1947 the service needed 13 whole-time and
113 part-time Home Helps (equivalent to a total of 75½ full-time) to meet the demands by the
end of 1952. The case load carried has correspondingly risen as can be seen from the
following data:-
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