HOSPITAL BOARDS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 151, 30 June 1925, Page 9

HOSPITAL BOARDS

SOCIAL WELFAREiWORK

EXTENSION OF ACTIVITIES.

In an address to the Citizens' Lunch Club, ••palmerston North, Mr. E. Killick; secretary of the Health Department, referred to the* proposal to take the social service work from ..hospital : boards. "Now, to some extent,'' remarked * Mr. Killick, "the very'necessity for and the existence, of our hospitals is in itself a confession of failure. This possibly is a somewhat unexpected and startling statement to make, but sickness, poverty, and even crime have often a common origin, ..and are often "amenable to sunilar methods of prevention and cure. The relief "of sickness and destitution is, m fact, m New Zealand administered by the same body.'•,.:';■; . , ■■■ "The suggestion that has been made that the work of hospital boards should be^ divorced from, charitable: aid shows possibly a lack of full appreciation -of this .fact. The resolutions passed at hospital board conferences show that they are intimately concerned'with mat-' ters affecting not only the Health Department, tut the Education, Pensions, Justice, -and Prisons Departments, Between whom there are many matters in common and much need for sympathetic working on similar lines towards a common goal. The same desirability of common and concerted: action, which exists m regard to the central, administration m .necessary in regard,to local administration. '.. It\' is 'not divorce but a strengthening of th ß ties that bind every form of public assistance:.' that is required. .- Hospital '';; administrators - may often desire -to; be "freed-.from' hampering restrictions, and' from interference b| persons not .fully acquainted with their needs and problems, but I am surethev $,™nT^JV^eir sphere of operations limited or.-their field of vision narrowed..-. - .■'.-• ' \ : ■.-."■.. ... .' .: .-.. .. - REMOVE THE CAUSE. _, "Hospital social service, which has to suoh an extent in the United-States, is comparatively unknown m_ New. Zealand,- and this leads me briefly, to touch upon the social welfare part of a .hospital, board's administration. We have dropped the term 'charitable, aid 1 as, far as it is possible ■to do'so.. .It.;.is.-;a misnomer m -that 'it indicates a wrong method of approach to ! this - important question. It is not the! chief function of the Social."'-.Welfare Committee", of a, hospital - board to: give doles .to the needy. /That is merely doctoring : the -symptom, and' is tantamount to : giving" a headache powder to: a person suffering:, from some serious disease ;.kkely ;to : become ;chronic -'■ There is as much need for preventive charity as there is for preventive medicine. Our aim: should be not merely to; relieve the symptom but to remove the cause. The giving of relief is indeed a sign of faulty administration. Temporary relief may indeed be necessary The first need, after,"; of '."course; giving' any temporary financial assistance, is to find ,out the. cause of the temporary disability and endeavour to remove it. The recorded, reports of th,e social welfare workers in the; United'^ States show wonderful results which' are - accomplished' in this direction. .- Considerable skill and experience is required to arrive ai the n°-ht diagnosis of'the trouble ' . ° v

_: These voluntary' workers do not confine themselves merely to charitable aid cases, but visit and follow up hospital cases, in many instances lending .valuable helpi in assisting the home where' the mother is either.ill or convalescent from hospital treatment;, and thus preventing her .from becoming a chronic - invalid. Much, good also is done by such workers m .connection with children,: from the point of view of environment, but a considerable "of the psychology of,the child m the matter is required by such.workers."- '' r.' ; :,;■...■'