THE PLUNKET SOCIETY

Grey River Argus, 13 May 1925, Page 7

THE PLUNKET SOCIETY

vvBSTPOBT ANNUAL MEETING. was n~tose attendance of at the annual meeting ot the. Westport Bramh of the above Society F O’GorInst Friday pvonnig. M’s i • man presided. REPORT and BALANCE SHEET. T |„. treasurer. Mr Beilby, read the report and balance sheet for the year, and moved its adoption. This was seconded by Mr Fairhall. Mrs O’Gorman referred to the un- - voidable absence of Mrs Powell, and expressed regret that that lady would not be able "again to accept the presideucy. THE SOCIETY CONGRATU DATED. Mr Holland congratulated the Society on the work it was doing, and on the last vear’s results as revealed in

the annual report and balance sheet. He joined with Mrs O’Gorman in regretting Mrs Powell’s decision not to stand again for the presidency. With reference to the work of the Society, he quoted from a letter written by Miss J. B. N. Paterson (the nurse who assisted Dr. Truby King in his health campaign throughout New Zealand), in a Glasgow paper and reproduced in the

“New Zealand Worker,” in which she declared that the Plunket Nurses were essentially educationalists Miss Paterson had shown how this young country had halved its infant mortality since the Society was founded by Dr Truby King eighteen years ago. It was not the climate—it was education in nutrition, this nurse declared, that had worked the change. Miss Paterson showed how the city of Glasgow, with approximately the same population as Hie Dominion, -employed only 22 to 24 health visitors, while the New Zealand Plunket Society, subsidised by the Gov ernment, had well over .100 specially trained nurses engaged on child welfare—“the most important branch of public health work.’ 7 She bad very correctly laid it down that “whether Hie baby bo a Scot or a South Sea Islander, he must be fed as a human ihlant and not as the young of any other species—and, above all, not as a calf on undiluted cow’s milk.” A MARVELLOUS RECORD.

Inaugurated in Dunedin in 1907. the Society had established a marvellous record. Its aims were summarised by Hr Truby King in those words: “It seeks to bring simple common sense, en lightenmont, and accurate scientific knowledge and conviction as to the fundamental needs of mother and child into Hie homos, lay and ]»rofessional.” Its record of achievement was shown in the vital statistics. For the 1900-1907 period, 8 per cent of the babies of New Zealand died in their first year. Now we lose only 4.8 per cent in the first year. And we load G’p world in the matter of a low infantile mortality. THE LOWEST IN THE WORLD.

In the case of children under two years of age, for the five years’ period 1918-22, the death rate from infantile diarrhoea and enteritis per 1000 births was: New Zealand, 3.5; Australian Commonwealth, 18; Tasmania. 14; New South Wales, 19; Great Britain. 15: Canada. 24; South Africa (whites), 23: Netherlands, 18; Switzerland, 14; and I .S.A. (average of seven principal

cities) 15. 'Chat was :i world record for New Zealand. Bournemouth, in Brit'dri, with five per thousand, was tha only place that- came near New Zealand’s record, but Bournemouth was a resort of wealthy people, and could not be for purposes of comparison. DUNEDIN’S CLEAN SHEET. A greater achievement still was that of Dunedin, which when the Society was formed in 1907 had a death rate of 25 per thousand in the case of child ron under two years of age. In the five years’ period w’hich followed (1908-13), the rate declined to 9.4; in 1913-17 it fell to 3.8; and in 191822 to 0.8; while for the last two years covered by the latest report available there had been no deaths whatever from infantile diarrhoea and enteritis. This was explained by the fact that as the report sot. forth, “Dunedin is the seat of the longest and most in-

tense education (if mothers in New Zealand. ’ ’ THE SOCIETY’S GROWTH. He next traced the growth of the Society from 1907, when they had one Plunket Nurse, up to 1924, with. 108 full-time and one half-time nurses, vis iting hundreds of thousands of homo? and receiving hundreds of thousands of visits from mothers and babies. There were now 50 residential branches and numerous sub-branches; and Karitane baby hospitals had been establish ed at Dunedin, Christchurch, Wanganui, Wellington and Auckland.

THE SOCIETY’S FINANCE. The finance of the Society was subsidised by the Government. He was one of those vlio thought the State should make itself wholly responsible for the expenses connected with great social services which had to do with the preservation of the lives of mothers and children. However, in 1923 the Government grants to the Society amounted to £14,315. Tn that year the private contributions! included three valuable properties, to he iw«d as Truby King Hospitals, and some £30,000. Last year the general Estimates contained grants amounting to £15,000, and the supplementary Estimates contained further grants of £10,555 —making £26.355 in all. THE WORK IN THE BULLER. Looking at the balance sheet, the first thing that struck him was the fact that only £2OB had been paid as nurses’

'salaries. That was an extremely low remuneration for the work that was being done. The report showed that during the year Nurse Spring had made 3199 visits to homes—an average of nearly nine visits a day if they included every day in the year; and, since there were of necessity many days on which could not be made, it followed that on certain Jays the number of vis’ts made most have been very high indeed. The nurse’s work covered Granity, AG Iler tan, Nga , kawau, Hector, Mokibinui, Sedcfonvil e, Waimangaroa, Denniston, Te Kulia etc. and she had also paid some visits to Karamea. That was a formidable area and they would understand the magnitude of the work when they remo abored that in addition to those visits to the homes by the nurse, there Lau been 816 visits of mothers to the office —more than two visits a day Tor every day in the year. He understood that Nurse Jeans, who was temporarily doing the Work in Nurse Spring’s absence, was making use of a push hike; he was of the opinion that a car should be provided.

A WORK OF SOCIAL SERVICE. Dr. Truby King had said: “Everything depends on the mother —the race is in her hands.” Therefore the education of the mother in all that related to motherhood was of supreme importance. Ezerything depended on the mother’s measure of knowledge. And the work of the Plunket Nurses was, as Miss Paterson had said, a work of education. It was also a great work of social service—of health-giving and life-saving— and its results must he to make the race clean, virile, and strong. It was a work Hut must commend itself In nil who wished New Zealand well. He joined with them in congratulating Nurse Spring on her work, mkl regretted that more men were not present at the meeting. Ho wished the Society every success. (Applause).

OTHER SPEAKERS. Messrs Fairhall and Beilby both endersed the remarks of Mr Holland, the latter remarking th:i‘ Hie best start in life a child could hove w as health o f body and mind. The report anl balance sheet were unanimously adopted and a- hearty vote of thanks by acclamation was accorded Mr Holland for his address. A MOTHERS’ REST. The matter of a rest room for mothers was raised by Mr O’Gorman, who KWI that Greymouth had such a room, established and supported bv the Borough Council. After a general discussion, it was decided to deputationise both the 8.-. r ongh and County Omweil,- re the mat

ter; ami Mesdames O’Gorman and Beilby and Messrs Holland and Beilby were selected as the deputation. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The election of officers was proceeded with and resulted as follows: —• President, Mrs Gilbert; X ice Presidents, Mesdames Booth, Pickering, Menzies, O’Gorman, Moloney, Rasmussen Holland and Matron Dunsford. Committee, Mesdames Powell, Dunn, Meade, Struthers, Jo Tourettes, Sargisson, Jermyn, Miller, Shanks, Wood, Jones, Holquist, Pascoe, Kelly McLellan, Fairhall; Aliases Shanks and Hill. Advisory Board, Drs. Foote and Meade; Alessrs Holland, Fairhall, and Shanks and the Afayor, Deputy-Afayor and the Chairman of the County Council. Hon. Auditor, Air F. Jone<. Secretary, Airs C. S. Beilby. H<-n Treasurer, Air C. S. Beilby. Votes of thanks were accorded the retiring president, the bvo nurses, the secretary, the auditor and the press. A vote of thanks to Airs o’Gorman for ]ir<‘siding. terminal cd the meeling.