EUROPE TO-DAY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 12346, 10 May 1938, Page 2

EUROPE TO-DAY

THE THOUSAND MILE J GURNET You may have heard the Oriental proverb: The thousand mile journey begins with the first step? Well, come with me here iu Paris to the East End (tourists are not usually found here, of course) right out past the Place della Bastille, and here is a building of grey stone, a new building. It is the Hospital o£ the Cross of St. Simon.

Nearly 30 years ago two Red Cross nurses settled in the Charoane district, hoping to be useful to their neighbours in any way they were fitted to be by their training.

In 1910 came the Seine floods,

An emergency call! Could the nurses of the Charonne house and food a great crowd of people turned out of their homes by the river? Their rule was “Never’say No.” so they hurriedly found empty houses and shops and converted them into temporary dormitories and kitchens. This encouraged them to believe that they could do things on a larger scale —set up a dispensary, perhaps even a hospital. They formed a company, bought land, gathered funds, and drew up a magnificent plan. In 1935 the dream they dreamed a quarter of a century ago came true, and the 100-bed surgical hospital, with its varied out-patient services, stands in the rue Croix St. Simon, the centre of a group of interesting activities. We enter the hospital and feel at once that it is a special sort of place. It is flooded with light, everything is creamy whiteness, including the floor of white marbie. The creamy white robes of the Sister who greets the visitor match the tone of the building, as does her serenity. From this building visiting nurses go out to seek cases of incipient trouble and to help those who cannot come to the dispensary for dressings or treatments. They persuade mothers who must go out to work tb have their babies cared for in the Day Nursery. They encourage the girls to prepare for full useful lives by joining one of the clubs, where they can go in for Keep Fit classes and take lessons in dressmaking, m l *' linery, fine needlework, and cookingAll this has grown out of the goodwill of two women who settled in a poor part of the town with a hope that they might be good neighbours.