ST. HELEMS MATERNITY HOME

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 225, 20 September 1906, Page 5

ST. HELEMS MATERNITY HOME

ihe presence in Auckland at the presetn time of Mrs Grace Neill. officer in charge of Mt. Helens hospitals throughair tiie colony, induced a -Star" reporter thi- mon-inL; to wait upon that lady for her views upon the situation. "Isn't it absoLuteiy ludicrous!'" Mrs Neill exciaimed. -to think that upon the establishment of tne hrst msacution in the country for the benefit of good. neaithy people, there shojuld arise such an amount of quibbling and tittle-tat-tling For that is all that it amounts to." 'There is then no truth. Mrs Neil], in the statement, that eligible patients are refused admission ?" "None whatever. I assure you. As :t has been pointed out. St. Helens hospital is not a. charitable institution, neither is it. intended to make provision for women who are in a position to pay for medical attention at home. Ir is meant for women who ctherwisa would probably have to be content witn the assistance of some - r "° r 'f less qualified midwife for their co-hnem-ent, and probahi- be worried by household cares which they should be tree from. Xo distinct line can be laid down in respect to their husband's income. .. woman wiiose husband was *a ramg £_ 10 per week, and who came to us for her drat confinement, we should 'eel perfectly justified in refusing, for hey should have been able to make proision. Bat a woman in similar eireui--tance.-. but with .is or seven children. m> should rc-i'iv'- without question. So __ny Little things have to be taken into 'onsiderat.'on you see. Bur. generally peal-tmg of course, the limit to inco—U. - about £ •'!. "1 ou have had no complaints from rithin. then. Mrs Neill?" Complaints! Why. if you were to se~ the Home, the matron. Miss Peiper. is the essence of good nature and kindliness—the staff, and the patients themselves, you would see at once how ridi--I—ou.s the suggestion is. Since the Luekland Home started, between 30 and .'■; have been received, -while altoether about ">0 have been on the books. >erytfa__r has worked beautifully. And n Dunedin. too. this morning I reesivd a wire from St. Helens Hospital there, ay—ig that up to this week 150 indoor ases had bpm received. The Bunedxp. Lome will have 'been opened a year on ; epte__ber 30 next. One great feature it these Homes is that they are praetijally self-s_pporti_g. Up to March 31 last the Dunedin Home had been established sis months, and the one at fVelluigton ten months. In the former the mi-Tiber of births in that period was 59. receipts from fees £279 19/9. and household etrpendrrnTe (exclusive of rent and .salariesi £178 9.. In Wellington th" fi__res for the same period were— births 111. fees £382 13/2. and household expenditure £212 12/3. You will thus see rhar. the homes show every promise of eventually being self-sup-

(3y Teisgrapa— Parliamentary Heporrer.) trET/r.DfGTOX, Wednesday. C orapisints made in regard to worklegmen s -wives being refused admission to >t- Helens Maternity Home were made the subject- of a question by 2lr to whom the Minister for" Public Health I Hon. Geo. Fowldsi replied that no wife of a man earnimr £2 4,' per week had been refused admission: wives or men earning £2 11/ weekly had been admitted. On the otSer hand com* plaints had been received that the institution was competing unfairly with outsiue mid-wives by admittinir those wiic could well afford to pay a larger fee. i'lrs Neill was at present inspecting the nopital. and inquiring- into all sneh matters. The Minister did not consider the estabiisnment of a board of management des-irabio. Mr Masser. in the House, declared that there was intense dissatisfaction existing in connection with the jrork of St. Helens ilar.emity Home in Auckland. There could be no question that wives of -workmen earning £2 per week were refused admission, while others whose husbands earned £2 10/ weekly were admitted. A set of regulations should be drafted so as to make"the position quite clear. Mr Fo-wlds supplemented his reply by explaining that one patient was refused admission becaus" she required to be received on renditions contrary to the regulations. H* saw no benefit from the proposal that the Home should be administered by a board: it was better to manage it with a Department directly responsible to Parliament. MRS. NEHJE/S OVTSIoy. RIDICULOUS ALLEGATTOXS. A VALUABLE AXD SUCCESSFUL INSTITUTION.

"There is some talk of overworked nurses;?*' —**"__=. but that is really more ; absurd than the other silly remarks. ' Ask the nurses themselves wnether they are sasisfted or not. Sonle-imes. it is true, work is heavy, as in everyt_in_ ' else: but that is only very occasi__a_T. There may be four or five patients received within 24 hours. Well. then, the ' staff has a busy time. And quite probably there will nor be more than four or five received in the next fortnight. So you see that is how it is. There can be no fixed and regular time for the nurses to obtain leave, but when work is slack the matron often allows one or two of them off for a day or two. 1 can assure you the nurses themselves have been very indignant concernin_ these reports about overwork and harsh treatment, and hare had to be prevented several times from writing their denial to the papers. As for calling Miss Peiper. the Auckland matron, harsh and over-bearing-—Well." and Mrs Neill laushe-i heartily at the idea of" it. "you have only to know Miss Peiper to be answered. She was for a year prior to eomimr her» sub-matron at the Wellinarori Homo , where she did aiimirnbLe work, and was beloved by everybody. Auck- ' land. I consider, was lucky in obtain_n_ such a matron." "In short,." declared Mrs. Neill. con- ! vincingiy. "these institutions are good institutions, and a genuine blessing to the co___r_nity. But because they are new. it seems that people, like children with a flower in the garden, want to pull it np by the roots to see how it is growing. It is not an all fair. Why do they not give them a fair trial? Let them go for a year, at all events, and then, if they think they are not properly man—sett, instinite inquiries by ail means. I have no doubt whate*-e*r myself that the only complaints that could be urn-ed would be found to be exceedingly childish.'' With regard to the admission of patients. Mrs. Neill said that it was her intention to suggest to the Minister that a book should be kept with the Uames and ___r_.se.i3 of all who mak. __r__ies, and in. the case pf refusals

i the reason of them. At present all that lis done is the keeping of a certificate lof those who are received. This certifiI eate is endorsed by a medical man.