Reporter’s Diary

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34123, 8 April 1976, Page 3

Reporter’s Diary

Flu epidemic THE REV. Ken Robinson, of Ashburton, recognised himself as the boy scout on the right in the photograph accompanying Saturday’s feature article about the great flu epidemic of 1918. He says the man pictured with a motor-cycle would have been the St Albans schoolmaster, a Mr Sutherland, who used his Matchless machine to take scouts delivering food to homes of the sick. “I was taken by him to a dairy farm on Innes Road, and broke one of the rules,” he says. “I went inside the house, which we were forbidden to do; but it was the home of an aunt. He reported me on returning to the depot, and I was lectured and hosed down, no doubt by the zinc sulphate spray.” Another of his jobs was to scan the houses in a block of streets near his home to see if they were displaying either a blue or a yellow card, signifying sickness or a death in the house. Ton ni licit FOUR weeks at the hydro town of Twizel was plenty for Dr B. L. Gare. He has packed up and left, saying that he is not sorry to go. “Despite the pleasant climate and a friendly welcome from most of the townsfolk, our life has been made difficult by the small but persistent minority of Twizel people who ’ forget that even a doctor deserves some home life.” he says in a letter to the Twizel “Chronicle.” These people knock on the door at any time they happen to be passing, demanding instant service for trivial or long-standing complaints at week-ends and in evenings. This is despite the two urgent surgeries provided at 1 1 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and evening surgeries on Wednesdays and Thursdays.” Dr Gare says he has worked

in urban and rural practices in other parts of New Zealand, but “never before met people who could complain because they are kept waiting while the doctor attends a woman bleeding heavily from a miscarriage and then leave without a thank-you after having their life-threatening sniffle attended.” His advice to Twizel if it ever wants to keep a doctor is to “try a little kindness.” Liked stripes ONE OF the most colourful sights of American Bicentennial Week in Christchurch was the suit worn by the American conductor, Dobbs Franks, at the Canterbury Orchestra s “Salute to America” concert on Sunday afternoon. Patterned in broad red, white, and blue stripes, it brought two ovations from the crowd — one when he walked on to the stage, and another when he turned around. He bought the clothes in Los Angeles and was delighted to find an appropriate occasion to wear them. “It’s a very comfortable suit to play in.” he said yesterday. “If the music is American, you just need to put the , suit on and it plays it for you.’’ The applause was a I bit disconcerting though. ! “I’ve never been upstaged by my clothes before,” said Mr Franks.

Aeic nurses A NEW kind of nurses’ ; medal will make its appearance in hospitals this week. The traditional five-pointed star of the registered general nurse will be augmented by a bar with the world, “comprehensive,” showing that the wearer is one of the new breed of nurse turned out by the Christchurch Technical Institute and the Wellington Polytechnic. The first 24 nurses to graduate from the threeyear course in Christchurch will get their dis-

tinctive medals from the Minister of Education (Mr Gandar) at a ceremony this evening. The “comprehensive” signifies that they have emerged fully qualified to nurse in medical, surgical, obstetric, psychiatric, psychopedic, and community nursing. (General exhibition THEY won’t babysit for you at the University of Canterbury’s public day at Ham on Saturday, but they will do the next best thing. If children tire tramping round the million plus square feet of floor space on the new campus, parents may drop them off in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre, where special programmes of films for children will be screened. Silent bargainiii}! IT DOESN’T pay to be prompt in renewing your subscription to one weekly new’s magazine. A subscriber who let his subscription lapse was sent a reminder, offering another year’s supply for $2B. He didn’t reply, so they sent another reminder, making the same offer. When he failed to answer that, they sent him a third reminder, bringing the price down to $15.60. He sent off his cheque smartly.