THE PLUNKET NURSES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 320, 6 October 1908, Page 4

THE PLUNKET NURSES.

MORE HELP WANTED. SOME SAD CASES. Tho work of a Plunket nurse in Wellington was described by a witness before the Legislative Council's committee on the registration of births and deaths. Mrs. Macdonald, a Plunket nurse, said that her duties were to help ifiothers with tho feeding of infants. If a doctor was in attendance she worked under his directions. If there was no doctor, mothers were in great trouble about their infants, and they got all sorts of advice. The Plunket nurses tried to get tho mothers to come to them for advice. They helped the mothers in preparing artificial food, and attended to the genoral hygieno of thoir homes, letting the children have plenty of sunlight and fresh air. People often sent for them. It had come under her notice that ' illegitimate children wore much neglected, through their mothers going out to work. She told of ono very sad case of a child that was practically dying for want of care when she took it into her own house. It was now recovering. No receiving homo would take it, \though the mother was willing to work for it. That child would have died, and there was no Department of the State that had right to step in and save it. There are two eases of illegitimate children living in a grandmother's home. They are being dono to death, and yet no Department has a right to step in and do anything. She had records of other cases showing that there was great danger to tho lives of illegitimate' children. It was not part of her duty, as a Plunket nurse, to find out cases of birth among poor people, but it would be an advantage to bo informed by the registrar of the notification of every birth in her district. At present they could only givo help when sent for, and many who would be glad to have their help did not know of their existence. Their great difficulty was to get pure food for the infants. Airs. Alacdonald stated that she was the only Plunket nurse in Wellington, and did as much as she could. There was ono at Palmerston North and one at Napier. The question of additional 1 nurses was dependent on the , state of the funds of the society. There were no other associations doing the same kind of nursing. The work was limited by the difficulty of not being able to get puro food for the infants. Infant life would be benefited n period of notification were shortened to ..4 hours, and if sho had the right to go into homes much trouble would bo averted.