Hostel for
Deaf Children and Mothers
Deaf Children and Mothers
8 Castlebar Hill, Ealing, W5 1TD
Medical
dates:
Medical
character:
Specialist
In
September 1953 No. 8 Castebar Hill became
the Hostel for Deaf Babies and Mothers. Established by the
Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital and led by the pioneering audiologist Miss Edith Whetnall, F.R.C.S. (1910-1965), it was
officially opened by Iain Macleod, Minister of Health.
The Hostel had 7 beds and 7 cots in separate bedrooms for each family. Mothers were trained in special care, while their babies underwent a week of tests. Meals were provided from the Dame Gertrude Young Convalescent Home next-door, and each family had its own table. A Warden and domestic staff looked after the running of the household.
By 1959 older children were admitted. A doctor from the Hospital's Audiology Unit visited weekly and a teacher three of four times a week.
By 1978 the Hospital had accommodation for 10 parents and 7 deaf children, who attended for a 5-day course of assessment.
The Hostel presumably closed down in the 1980s or 1990s.
The Hostel had 7 beds and 7 cots in separate bedrooms for each family. Mothers were trained in special care, while their babies underwent a week of tests. Meals were provided from the Dame Gertrude Young Convalescent Home next-door, and each family had its own table. A Warden and domestic staff looked after the running of the household.
By 1959 older children were admitted. A doctor from the Hospital's Audiology Unit visited weekly and a teacher three of four times a week.
By 1978 the Hospital had accommodation for 10 parents and 7 deaf children, who attended for a 5-day course of assessment.
The Hostel presumably closed down in the 1980s or 1990s.
Present status (April 2008)
The house is now a private residence.
No. 8 Castlebar Hill.
(Author unstated) 1953 Mother and child train together. Minister opens experimental hospital for deaf children. British Journal of Nursing, The Midwife (October), 127.
(Author unstated) 1953 News in brief. Hearing aid supplies. Chemist and Druggist 160, 386.
Longmore JB 1960 A study of deaf children. Journal of the College of General Practitioners 3, 202-209.
Whetnall E, Fry D.B 1970 Learning to Hear. London, William Heinemann.
www.british-history.ac.uk
www.ealingcivicsociety.org (1)
www.ealingcivicsociety.org (2)
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