ORDER OF ST. JOHN

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 28, 27 October 1932, Page 6

ORDER OF ST. JOHN

Nursing Guild’s Meeting WORK AMONG THE POOR In the absence of the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, through iU-hcalth, Colonel J. J. Esson presided at the annual meeting of the District Guild of St. John, held in the room of the St. John Ambulance Association last evening. In moving the adoption of the annual report and the balance-sheet, the chairman ■ said ho was sure that his Worship would wish him to extend thanks to the guild for its work among the poor and unemployed during the last year, work which, was a great help to the Mayor’s relief fund. The chairman spoke in detail on the various activities of the guild, work that was only restricted by finance, and he hoped the people of Wellington would support the guild to the extent it deserved. He gave praise to the work of Mrs. Stace as president for the year, and hoped her services would be available to the guild in the future. The report was seconded by Dr. Campbell Begg, who gave especial praise to the work o£ the guild in connection with the hospital. The work of the rehabilitation of sick people was most important, for it bad its economic aspect, as the sooner the sick people got well the sooner they became useful members of the community. The speaker also dwelt on the necessity of patients being treated as quickily as possible, and. not kept waiting hours for an investigation which may take only a few minutes.

'.l'he report was adoptedOu the motion of Dr. J. S. Elliott the following officers were elected - Patroness, her Excellency Lady Bledisloe; president, Mrs. A. Stace: honorary, life vice-president. Mrs. A. A. Corrigan; vice-presidents, Mesdames E. B. Brown and W, J. Osborn; committee, Mesdames M. M. Mcßae, G. Barltrop, W. Young, E. M. Luke, R. Pearson, D. M. Wilson, G. Shirtcliffe, A. J. Daniel, and Miss E. Young; honorary secretary, Mrs. J. A. Doctor; honorary treasurer. Mrs. W. J. Osborn; advisory medical officers, Dr. W. Yqung and Dr. Agnes Bennett; trustees of invested funds, Sir Thos. Wilford, Messrs. G. A. Troup, O. S; Watkins, W. D. Ferguson, and Mrs. E-B. Brown; honorary accountants, Messrs. Rowley, Gill, Hobbs, and Glen; honorary auditor, Mr. Chas Batten; honorary solicitors, Messrs. Young, White and Courtney. In moving the resolution Dr. Elliott gave full credit to- the work of the guild. ' '.»• 1 The president, Mrs. Stace, spoke on the success of her effort to secure honarary medical service for the deserving, poor of Wellington. In conjunction with' Drs. Young and Bennett she obtained the service of 16 medical officers, one in each, postal district. 'She wished ' their appointment made official by the. annual meeting. The doctors who could be called on by the nurses were Drs. W. Young (Cl), Dr. lan Ewart (C2), Dr. Elliott (C 3 Dr. A. L. Young (NX and 2), Dr. .Button (N 3 4 and 5), Dr. Whyte (Wl), Dr. .Paterson (W2), Dr. Bull (W3), Dr. Wright (SWI), Dr. Usher (SI), Dr. Martin (S2), Dr. Luke (El), Dr. Zohrab (E2), Dr. Rawson (E 3 Dr. Thwigg (E 4 and Dr. Gordon Kemp ,(E5). /Dr. M. H.'Watt, Director-General of Health, delivered an address on "Public Health Nursing and District Nursing in Particular,” in which he traced the his.tory of nursing work from primitive times to the present highly-developed system of nursing, particularly _ that work done, by the guild, the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes, a work which is supplementary to the work of the general hospital. The only criticism bo had to offer was that there were not enough district nurses, and hoped that this defect would be remedied and promised to give favourable consideration to any application for an increased subsidy for such work. Mr. W. D. Ferguson gave information on the trust funds of the guild. Last year the actual income from their investments was £599/4/4, and be estimated that next year the income will be £633/9/-. He said that the £13,000 funds invested did not fall from the clouds but was the result of good work and business management of past committees. which bad 'been able to put aside to capital out of revenue. Sister V. Collins gave a review of the year's, work of the nurses among the sick poor. Particular reference was made to the work among the. families of the unemployed and the old-age pensioners, who had barely enough for subsistence. During the evening Miss L. Van Staveren gave a recital entitled “A Clean Sweep,” and Miss Ford and i>arty gave a play-reading.