Farewell to head of orthotic dept

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 6

Farewell to head of orthotic dept

Mr M. W. Hitchins, head of New Zealand's largest orthotic department at Christchurch Hospital, will retire next month after 44 yearq service in the department.'

Mr Hitchins, at a special retirement farewell function held by the North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday morning, was thanked by board members for his long and valuable service.

In return, he presented an original draft copy of a history of Christchurch Hospital, written many years ago by Dr Walter Fox, medical superintendent of Christchurch Hospital from 1916 to 1936.

Mr Hitchins said that he had given away many mementoes and personal treasures he had collected at the hospital over the years.

“But one treasure I am keeping is something that was given to me by a former patient — his collection of 28 walking sticks,” he said.

One of the sticks would be given to the Akaroa Museum, but he would keep the others, he said. Mr Hitchins started work in the splint department at Christchurch Hospital in 1938 when there w ; as a staff of just six, said the chairman of the board, Mr T. C. Grigg, at the function. Since then the staff had grown to about 30, and the name had been changed to the orthotic department. Each year 21,000 in-patients and 22,000 out-patients visited the department, which had helped to improve

the capabilities of thousands of disabled people, Mr Grigg said. A lot of the aids dispensed by the department required big adjustments for those people using them, and Mr Hitchins had put great emphasis on helping the patients psychologically as well as physically. Mr Hitchins has been the officer in charge of the orthotic department since 1958.

He said that he was disappointed that he would miss the move to new premises next year. The department has been in the same quarters since it was first set up, and conditions have become cramped. It will move to the building in Antigua Street that was previously occupied by the board’s supply department. Staff at the orthotic department make and modify a lot of the aids they dispense, as , well as buying them in from manufacturers and suppliers. These aids include wheelchairs (and modified wheelchairs), plaster casts, walking frames, surgical footwear, artificial limbs, neck collars, chin supports, and special chairs. Miss P. R. B. Howell, assistant principal nurse at Christchurch Women’s Hospital, and formerly principal nurse at Essex Maternity Hospital until its closing in 1979, and Mrs B. E. Thompson, charge nurse at Sunnyside Hospital, who will retire soon, were also bidden farewell by board members.