The Nurse Maude Association Day

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26376, 21 March 1951, Page 6

The Nurse Maude Association Day

The people of Christchurch have a particular regard for the jturse Maude District Nursing Association, which is, perhaps, not enjoyed by district nursing associations in other centres. This is partly because of the respect in which Nurse Maude herself was held by so many, and partly because of the fine record of service given by the nurses who worked with her and afterwards over a total period of 50 years. Because the usefulness of a home nursing service inspired, and still partly sustained, by a voluntary organisation has been recognised, the association has been given the financial support that has enabled it to meet changing conditions. But now costs have mounted beyond normal sources of income; and to-day, for the first time, the association will hold a street collection, to which a wider public will be asked to contribute. Originally Nurse Maude and her helpers worked only among the very poor. Then, with the coming of social security, the service was widened to include all who might need help and advice in nursing the sick at home. The association now has 18 nurses, six more than it had 10 years ago, and it is also able to attend still more cases by using modern transport. Recently, the association undertook the new responsibility of a convalescent home. Those who get the help of nurses generally make a contribution according to their means, and those patients who can afford to pay for convalescent home treatment are expected to pay. The association also receives various public subsidies. The remainder of the expenditure, heavy and growing, must come from those who value the association’s work. The association has a good claim to generous support, because the more patients are treated in their own homes the less the burden on the taxpayer of expensive hospital treatment. It has, perhaps, a still better claim in the cheerful human touch it brings to thousands of sick beds a quality that only a community service such as this can preserve. The people of Christchurch should not fail to recognise either claim.