NURSES’ "AT HOME"

Evening Star, Issue 21639, 7 February 1934, Page 11

NURSES’ "AT HOME"

THE HEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE Upwards of 200 nurses, delegates to the New Zealand Nurses’ Conference, members of the medical profession and their friends foregathered in the Tudor Hall last evening, as the guests of the Otago branch of the Trained Nurses’ Association.

Miss Young (dominion president), in a very happy manner, welcomed the delegates, referring especially to the presence of Mbs Cambio (director of nursing in New Zealand), who bad come from Wellington to attend the conference. M iss Young, who wore a most becoming frock of bine lace and georgette, was-, presented with a sheaf of rose coloured and pink carnations, while Miss Lnmbie was given a sheaf of the same flowers in shell pink. The president then delivered a short address on the progress of nursing in New' Zealand, with special reference to a post graduate course at Bedford College, London, which it was hoped would be taken advantage of by some of the New Zealand nurses. The Mayor (Rev. K. T. Cox) also welcomed the delegates on behalf of the city. A very enjoyable programme had been arranged as follows: —Pianoforte solos, Dr dc Moncheaux; violin solos, Miss Braithwaite; songs, Miss Dora Drake, Miss Liddell, and Dr Thomson.

The evening was delightfully informal, and opportunities were afforded during intervals in the music and during supper for the renewal of many old friendships. The conference commenced this morning in the Medical School buildings, King street. Miss Young’s address of welcome was as under:—“ This is an age of conferences, and one is sometimes asked if any permanent good is achieved by them. L believe our conferences to be definitely helpful. We pool our experience and knowledge, discuss our problems and aims, and try by this and all other means to raise the ideals and status of our profession. We believe, too, that conferences held annually in the various centres stimulate interest, especially among our own members. I have, as you all probably know, recentlv returned from the international nurses’ conference, which is held every four years. At the recent one, held in Paris and Brussels last duty, .1 had the honour to represent New Zealand on the board of directors, and 1 can say from a definite experience that I have been enthused thereby to greater efforts to forward the interests of our association and profession, and to assist all efforts to increase and extend the field of knowledge for our members. I believe that we must do this if we are to continue to hold the proud position we have held in the past as leaders in nursing matters. This position is ours because of the wise foresight ami genius of the pioneers of our profession in this land. Partly owing to geographical isolation, and partly, 1 am afraid, because of the lack of interest on the part of many of our members, we to-day are not pushing forward with the same effort as so many countries are doing. But we cannot stand still. It is a law of Nature that we either advance or go backwards. We cannot remain stationary. We hope during this year to commence a fund to enable us to grant an annual'scholarship to at least one New Zealand registered nurse to attend the post-graduate course at Bedford College, London. This course has been functioning for several years, financed by the international Red Cross Society, hut has now been takem over by the international Council of Nurses as a permanent memorial to Florence Nightingale. At the recent conference one of the things that impressed me very much was the number of nurses from countries until recently considered backward in nurse training, such countries as Bulgaria, Latvia, Siam, .Japan, etc., whoso delegates, when addressing meetings telling members of the efforts being made in their countries to improve the training and status of nurses, again and again emphasised the inestimable value of the post-graduate course they had been enabled to take at Bedford College. We are proud of our hospitals, our nurse training, and our association,

and justly so, hut again I feel I must emphasise the need for every member to be vitally interested in all modern movements and methods. Only in this wav can we do credit to the pioneers who blazed the trail for us, and only in this way can the benefits for which they fought so hard be maintained and increased. Our association has two main objects for its existence—(l) to promote the interests of all registered nurses professionally and socially; (2) to meet the convenience of the medical profession and the public by maintaining an efficient, reliable nursing service. We are grateful to the doctors for their help and interest in the past, and we welcome their continued goodwill and that of the public generally. Lastly, we are desirous of having every registered nurse in the dominion an interested member of our association.”— (Applause.)