NOTES FOR WOMEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 21

NOTES FOR WOMEN

By Philuda. THE ALMONER HER DUTIES AND IDEALS The story of the almoner, that modern social worker, is little known, but it is one of humanitarianism, the application of years of study to the mental and physical needs of poor people (says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald), It was not until the formation of an Institute of Hospital Almoners in Victoria in 1929 that any attempt was made in Australia to organise training for almoner work. Now the demand for almoners exceeds the supply in every State of the Commonwealth. In Sydney to-day there are five almoners. The council of the Institute of Almoners emphasises that at present there are many openings as almoners for fully-trained women. To-day at Sydney Hospital there are four students who have the opportunity of experience at five hospitals. They attend lectures from doctors, almoners, and visit institutions for observation work. The period of training under the institute is 14 months, but students have to hold the certificate of some recognised board of social study and training before starting hospital work. Experience in many countries has shown that one almoner to a hospital may not be sufficient. At Sydney Hospital, for example, the almoner is in charge of two wards and a section of the out-patients’ department. At St. Mary’s, Paddington, London, a hospital with between 300 and 400 beds, there are five almoners, while at a Boston hospital they have more than 20 almoners.

The duties are to see that poverty, home difficulties, or lack of understanding shall not prevent patients from re. ceiving the full benefit of treatment, to act as a link between the hospital and outside agencies, to study the patient’s home conditions and circumstances by visiting the home herself, to organise the after-care of the patient on discharge, and, if it is required by the hospital, to check abuse of the hospital by patients. There is no doubt whatever that the almoner is doing work of great importance in the community. In regard to Australia, almoners share, with other social workers, responsibility for collecting authentic data which may be of use in social legislation planning. A study, made in the almoner’s department, of budgets of unemployed families, based on locaL food prices and accepted food values, has indicated that even the most careful mother is un--able to obtain the minimum amount of milk required to prevent malnutrition in her young children. Hundreds of such mothers have spent hours waiting, with their babies, in crowded outpatient departments for special food orders on which milk was supplied. Government provision, however, has since been made granting milk to all children under six.

Many children are referred to the almoner’s department for investigation of social causes of malnutrition. It is often found, however, that, although food is adequate, malnutrition is due to other social factors, such as parenta 1 neglect, injudicious budgeting, and ignorance of food values, bad housing leading to nervous exhaustion, and capricious appetite or inadequate parental control leading to bad food habits.

Another factor of great Import to the almoner is housing. Slum clearance schemes are of vital interest to almoners. The case of a young baby was referred to by the doctor to the almoner’s department for investigation of diet and home conditions. The baby was restless, querulous, and losing weight fast for no apparent physical reason. The mother, whose illness pre-, vented her working, had been deserted by her husband, who gave her a 5m..1l allowance a week to keep her and her two children. The woman lived with her mother in a house of two rooms and a minute lean-to kitchen. The Elace was damp and dilapidated, the ack yard was six feet square, with no sunlight. The baby, her grandmother, mother, and brother shared one of the rooms, which was also the living room, and the baby's two uncles lived in the other room. There was no chance of sleep in the place between 6.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. Fortunately, the almoner managed to get the baby to a day nursery, where she got proper rest and food, and began to gain weight immediately. Another case concerns a thin, sicklylooking girl who had haunted outpatients’ departments, herbalists' rooms, and chemists’ shops in search of a quick cure for asthma and bronchitis. She had never worked. The doctor advised that there was a chance that she might gain enough strength to do light work if medical treatment could be supplemented by extra nourishing food, and, later, a home be found for her inland. The girls’ parents believed her to be a chronic invalid, and had lost Interest in the possibilities of treatment. The girl was inclined to share this belief, too. Regular treatment and extra food produced .he needed improvement, and the doctor said she was fit to go to the country. The girl was still very afraid, but after months of hesitation accepted the almoner’s offer to arrange a holiday in a country district on the understanding that she would try to get work there. She has been in the country now for some months and her health is steadily improving. A knowledge of the patient, his environment. social condition, family affairs, and individual character is usually possessed by the family doctor, but it is almost impossible to obtain such information about a patient during his short term in hospital. The job, consequently, is handed to the almoner, who realises that the extension of ward work is really a protection to the patient against the possibility of relapses. in conjunction with the psychiatrist, the almoner is able to make preliminary investigations and help the doctor’s work by helping the patient financially, or, by the use of some ingenuity, developing a healthy outside interest which solved some emotional problem. Arrangements for holidays, association of patients with clubs and recreational activities, special vocational training, adjustments in the school and home, allowances for extra food and special diets, all come within the scope of the almoner department. Figures prove that the almoner is a social necessity. At the Rachel Forster Hospital, in Sydney, for instance, more than 2000 patients were referred to the almoner and 268 families were visited. Extra food was found for 163 patients and convalescence and holidays for 173. A foster mother was found for one girl, and even household goods and tools were supplied. VISITORS TO HOLIDAY RESORTS Hotel Eichardt, Queenstown.—The Marchioness of Sligo (London); Miss H Maclean of Ardgour (London); Miss M. Hall (Tasmania); Mr H. Eades (Torouay, England): Mr J. C. Standage, Mr W. Chapman, Mr D. Munro, Miss O. Deane, Mr J. D, Mercer, Mr F. J. Muir, Mr B. C. Abernethy. Mr A. P. Greenfield, Mr D. Wark (Dunedin): Mr A, Bates, Mr K. Vogan (Christchurch): Mrs J. C. Wigley, Miss Prue Wigley (Timaru); Miss Ava Jackson. Mr W. Wiggins (Auckland). THE MAN WHO HAD A BABY One of the strangest cases in medical history is that of a former soldier, who changed his sex and gave birth to a 91b baby. Hochman Tenenbaum at the age of 24 was a sergeant in the Polish army Then he began to change into a woman, and an operation completed the transformation. But he continued to wear men’s clothes. Some months later doctors and nurses at a Warsaw, Poland, hospital were amazed when the husky sergeant walked in and asked for a room, announcing he was going to have a baby. A few hours later the child was born.—Look. Picture Magazine