NURSES AND THEIR WORK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 294, 5 September 1908, Page 11

NURSES AND THEIR WORK.

DECLARING THE. HOSTEL OPEN. Tho Private Nurses' Hostel was crowded with visitors yesterday,' when tjie cake and candy sale was hcldi and tho stall-holders were kept busy all the afternoon selling eatables and the lovely flowers that had been 6ent as donations to the . home'. Afternoon tea .was served-in ; the diningroom. Miss . B.oys,' the matron,''received the guests, and ' in.the absence of Mrs. Hislop, Mrs. Kendall, ■president of- ihe. Private Nurses' Association, declared the hostel open. ; Dr. Valintine, representing • the Hospitals Department, made - an- interesting speech dealing " with _ various matters concerning nurses;' expressing the hope' that a pension scheme for nurses would be carried through; and referring to tho desire of; tho Department to see the district nurses; system extended to the oountry districts. The towns are well supplied with hospitals, but in the backblocks the-settlers in addition, to being deprived of tho luxuries of civilisation are often left without medical 'care. It was hoped that some schenio would be devised 1 to give these settlers aid. Dr. Valintine spoke of the nobility of tho nurses' .work, and of the esprit de corps that should exiist among the

members of such : an honourable' profession. < He regretted that no English word or phraso existed that would express exactly the meaning of the French term, but loyalty was a good word, and loyalty was a most desirable virtue in a nurse, loyalty to the institution to which she belonged. The older nurses should try to inspire tho juniors with this loyalty. There were' occasions when misguided men had gone about making inquiries from the nurses as to the conduct of tho institutions in which they were engaged, and a young nurse, new to her environment, was perhaps apt to let herself go a.little in discussing it. . They should undorstand.that if matters'calling for' protest arose,/ there were proper channels through which that protest could bo and should bo made,, and the Nurses' Association provided such a means, and tho Department was ready to consider any matter brought before it that called for adjustment. Speaking personally, Dr. Valin-i tine paid a high tribute to the hnrsing proand spoke of the great-kindness he had himself as a patient. from'timo to time been accorded by trained nurses. At tho conclusion of the proceedings, Dr. 'Agnes Bennett proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Valintine, and this was carried by acclamation., Among thoso who were present during the afternoon were Mrs. Kendall, Miss M'Lean, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs.. Gibbs, Mrs. Walter Hislop, Miss Payne, find Miss Coates, Mrs. Holgate, Mrs. Pigeon, Mrs. Boyd, Dr. and Miss Pollen, Mrs. Valintine, Mrs. de la Mare, 'Miss Conn, Miss Palmer, Miss Berry, Mrs. Miles, Mrs; Rankine-Browne, Mrs. Luke, and Miss Perkins. ,