MISSION OF HEALTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 260, 2 November 1935, Page 21

MISSION OF HEALTH.

ENGLISHWOMAN'S COURAGE. , Hidden away on a tiny island, 30C miles north of Vancouver, a diminutive Englishwoman devotes her life to the health and welfare of Indian families, says an exchange. She is Miss Kathleen O'Brien, M.8.E., who for 15 years has been harbinger of health, education and religion to the Red Man. Demobilised after nursing service in the Great War, Miss O'Brien sought a new field of endeavour. While the Lambeth Conference was in session she met Dr. Schofield, Bishop of Columbia, who suggested the.Pacific Coast. Arriving here in 1920, she undertook the task of public health nursing at Alert Bay, supplementing the work carried on by the Columbia Coast Mission. Three years later Miss -O'Brien and another restless spirit, Miss Marion Nixon, teacher at a girls' school, decided to push further into the wilderness. They chose the little Indian village of Mimkumlees, on Village Island, headquarters of the Mamalillikulla tribe, which had neither school, church, nor health education. The village was well found, with handsome totem poles in the main street and some of the finest Indian homes on the coast. In days of prosperity fishing yielded a comfortable living. Tribal customs were still very strong. Unlike many missionaries, Miss O'Brien encouraged the Indians to maintain their ancient aesthetic life, to preserve their totem poles and their dances. She had a reason. She found that adoption of the white man's mode of living rendered them prone to the white man's ailments. Tuberculosis, unknown in the days when they hunted game and speared fish, became their greatest scourge. A Small Sanatorium. Adopting a suggestion of another transplanted Briton, Dr. George Darby, whose name is well known on the coast, Miss O'Brien built frotr. her own funds a small sanatorium, which she called her "hyuyatsi," or "resting place." She installed three beds. Her partner, Miss Nixon, was obliged, through ill health, to return to England. She was succeeded by Miss Dora White, a qualified teacher, whose salary is paid by the Indian Department. Miss O'Brien's successor at Alert Bay, hearing of the new experiment in wilderness nursing, soon followed her. The trio are there to-day. All the patients that have passed through the hyuyatsi, with one exception, have been discharged with their health restored. The treatment comprises rest, fresh air and nourishing food. The Indians are grateful and co-operate with manual help. The mission boat calls at intervals, with a doctor and a chaplain. The Provincial Health Department and the Indian Department are sympathetic. The Church of England makes an annual endowment of £80. Miss O'Brien plans to establish several hyuyatsis along the coast. She is winning her battle against tuberculosis. But Indians are poor and hyuyatsis cost money. She declines to appeal to the (feneroslty of the public, preferring to iepend on her own resources and those af her . crew. All,, three are practical farmers. They keep their institution supplied with fresh vegetables. Their jffort is a monument to the pluck and self-denial ~ of adventurous Englishwomen. —• .