V.A.D. TRAINING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20043, 15 September 1939, Page 6

V.A.D. TRAINING

SPLENDID RESPONSE WOMEN VOLUNTEERS ENROL HUNDREDS ATTENDING WARD COURSE POPULAR Women of this district have responded in hundreds to the call for volunteers to train for first aid and home nursing, and the classes now being organised by the St. John Ambulance and the Red Cross Society ’.re being supported with an enthusiasm which far exceeds the most optimistic anticipations previously held by those bodies. At the most recent lectures conflicted in connection with these active organisations, there have been be'ween 200 and 300 voluntary workers. The numbers have grown swiftly from an average of about 30 in peace-time, and each meeting has shown a remarkable increase in strength.

The prospect of personal service to the country during the war on the home front has found the women of Gisborne and the surrounding district not less keen to accept the burden than they were in the Great War.

Capacity For Earnest Work Young and old alike, they have shown not merely enthusiasm, but a continuing capacity for earnest work that has been a revelation to those associated with the training scheme. Women of advanced years have taken their places in the classes at much sacrifice of time and personal convenience, and are as keen as the younger members of their sex whose home ties are less exacting. For a large number of those now preparing themselves by lectures and by practical work for whatever service may be expected of them, the possibility of work in the district hospitals is especially attractive. It is recognised that if the war takes the course for which preparations are being made in the armed services, regular hospital staffs will be drawn upon for trained nurses, and in consequence there will he a demand for V.A.D. workers to replace the nurses on active service.

Immediate Objective

The classes now being conducted by he two organisations will find the material for filling that demand, and also may pave the way to active service for individual trainees in other spheres.

An immediate objective is to qualify a large number of the trainees in the home nursing and first aid sections of V.A.D. work, as a preliminary to the formation of a special class for attendance at the Cook Hospital. This class will receive tuition for six weeks, and during that time . will spend at least eight hours per week under the control of the medical superintendent of the hospital. Upon completion of . the . course, 'hose who fulfil the requirements will be enrolled as an auxiliary unit, from which emergency workers, inlbe hospital'wards will be drawn. • - Medical practitioners who have lectured to the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance classes have been much impressed by the concentration shown by the trainees, and by the general display of keenness on the part of a considerable section of the district’s womenfolk: