TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 17

TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION

Street Appeal Tomorrow

“I am so pleased the warm weather has come.” said a tired-looking woman when meeting a friend in the street. “I thought the winter would never end and what I would have done with my poor sick man I don’t know, if the Tuberculosis Association hadn’t sent us bags of coal and wood. They are kind.” That woman was one of many who received fuel, warm clothing, blankets and bedding from the association. Not Defeated It is often said on the public platform and in the press that tuberculosis has been defeated. Unfortunately it has not been defeated. The number of new cases registered last year exceeded that of the year before. Certainly a great many more sufferers and patients recover more quickly and nearly all recover altogether. Many who formerly would have entered a sanatorium are now being nursed in their own homes.

Sister Rountree, who is in charge of the Tuberculosis Clinic in Armagh street, and who is in constant touch with sufferers and former patients in their own homes, could describe many sad cases. There are always the few who can tell wonderful, often amusing, stories of why they need relief. And the association now has a human outlook and has a wide knowledge of human frailties. £ 1900 Needed Annually The association is approachable at all times and it considers every application for relief. In July, this year, 47 applications were received, showing acute distress in bad weather. The association still has to help dependants of men who contracted tuberculosis in the 1914-18 war.

On the whole, the sufferers from tuberculosis are f a cheerful and very brave band. A visitor to the Upper Sanatorium, where 32 patients are in residence, would be surprised at their cheerfulness—almost happiness, and at their kanrinees to one another. Of special interest are some of the convalescent patients who play clock golf as earnestly as professionals. Street Appeal Tomorrow the association is asking the public to contribute to its funds. It feels that it will be as generous as formerly. The Christchurch public never fails to support a worthy cause and most people will think that the association’s cause is deserving of support. It needs about £lOOO each year to relieve urgent distress and it asks the help of the kindly public.