36 YEARS IN NURSING

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31249, 22 December 1966, Page 2

36 YEARS IN NURSING

Inspector To Retire

Thirty-six years of faithful service to nursing will be brought to a close when Miss Fanny Tonkin retires as nurse inspector of the Department of Health in Christchurch on January 6.

With the advent of the social security benefits between 1936 and 1940, the role of the district health nurse had altered considerably, she said yesterday.

People were reluctant to seek medi-al care before medical benefits and free hospital treatment were available. It was the district nurse’s job to convince them that they were sick enough to consult a doctor. In a later period it was the district nurse’s duty to assure her patients they were entitled to free medical care.

Today people consulted doctors freely and no longer needed persuasion from the district nurse.

“Formerly the emphasis was on the physical needs of the individual, but many changes in need and outlook have taken place during my years of service with the Department of Health. Today the emphasis is on the total family health needs, with stress on mental health,” said Miss Tonkin.

Twenty-seven of Miss Tonkin’s 36 years in the nursing profession have been spent with the Health Department.

Born in Kaiapoi, she trained in Timaru, graduated in 1933, and was appointed staff nurse in Rotorua the next year. She served in the Waikato and completed her maternity and midwifery courses before she joined the Department of Health in Wairoa in 1939. She remained there until 1944. She graduated in public health nursing and Plunket training and also served in Wanganui and Hamilton before she came to Christchurch in 1960.

Conditions for general nurses had improved immensely. In the early days they were on call seven days a week and travelled over rough roads, said Miss Tonkin. “But my years as a district health nurse have been most gratifying. If a person wants to be a nurse, she will be a nurse—no matter what the conditions.”