The work of "home help" in the context of its combination with an ambulance station

Until February 1958, the ambulance station in Kazan, as in most cities of the Russian Federation, operated independently of the “home help” carried out separately by each district polyclinic in the city. The disunity of ambulance and "home help" introduced many organizational difficulties into the service of the population, and often led to the fact that therapeutic patients generally remained without medical assistance at home at night. This was explained by the fact that “home help” at polyclinics was provided by one doctor on duty, who himself accepted calls and, as they accumulated, at his own discretion (alone, without a nurse) went to service, having 5-6 calls on hand. In the absence of a doctor in the polyclinic, no one was left on the phone, and many patients, not receiving medical help through the polyclinic, had to go to the ambulance, which, in turn, could not cope with the duties of the polyclinics of the entire city. Therefore, the night home help service was clearly underperforming, making a very limited number of calls.