PLUNKET SOCIETY

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 28 September 1933, Page 2

PLUNKET SOCIETY

Progress in South Taranaki ANNIVERSARY AT HAWERA Activities In Past 21 Years ‘ ‘ COMING-OF-AGE ’ ’ CELEBRATIONS.

The Hawera branch of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (more popularlyknown as the Plunket Society of New Zealand) has attained its 21st anniversary and to-morrow evening at the Winter Show Buildings in Hawera the “ coming-of-age” celebrations. will take the form of a monster birthday ball, at which it is expected there will be a very large attendance. In addition to the adult function there will be a children ’s party in the same hall on Saturday.

During the 21 years of its existence ’’ the branch has formed a most useful purpose in the life of the community ( and indeed has pioneered the Plunket system for the whole of the Taranaki Province. Its record, which is the subject of review in these columns, is. one 1 of steady progress in the proper feeding and care of babies in reducing in a remarkable degree the wastage of human life directly traceable to faulty p nutrition in infancy. e EARLY HISTORY OF SOCIETY. * The Royal New Zealand Society for 1 the Health of Women and Children is c now so universally recognised and Sir T Truby King and the Fiunket and Kari- 1 tane nurses such household words, that £ it is somewhat difficult to realise the * remarkable results achieved by the t movement in the comparatively short space of 28 years since its inception. £ Though the society itself was formed 1 in Dunedin in May, HIO7, Sir Truby ' (then Dr.) King and his devoted co- > worker, the late Lady King, for two I years before had applied themselves ( unceasingly in the interests of mother * and child, and thereby laid the founda- 1 tioti on which the work of the society c was later built up. It was during his f term of office as medical superinten- t dent of the large Government hospital ‘ for mental diseases at Seacliff, in < Otago, that Dr. King’s attention be- i came focussed on the harm done by the almost universal practice of artificial feeding of infants and the ignor- 1 ancc and carelessness of parents in re- i gard to this matter leading to a very 1 high death-rate among artificially-fed < babies and the appalling and prevent- : able wastage of human life directly j traceable to faulty nutrition in in- i fancy. Before ho went into the ques- - tion of the feeding and the care of the 1 baby, however, Dr. King proved con- ] clusively that Nature’s laws as ap- C plied to plants and animals applied ’ equally with regard to the liuman race, though up to that time practically.no ] attention had been directed to that fact. HIGH INFANT MORTALITY. On going more elosely into the infant mortality rate in New Zealand, , Dr. King was struck with the fact that ; out of 25,000 children born in this Do- , minion over 2000 died annually. It ( was this which determined him to take up the cause of mother and baby. With the help of his wife he took in - hand the babies first in Seacliff and , then in Dunedin, where he was assisted by a very capable -Scottish girl (Miss j McKinnon), who later became the first ; Plunket nurse. The results of their work proved that if the infant mor- ■ talitv rate was to be materially re- ; dueed the mothers, both actual and , prospective, had to be roused from ( their -enforced ignorance and some sys- , tern of education in mothercraft introduced. At this time mothers fed their ■ babies on any patent food recommend- ■ ed bv equally ignorant neighbours, and each mother had a different food to re- , commend. All wore tried in succession , with disastrous results to the babies , who, even if they survived the want 1 of commonsense knowledge, grew up ( impaired in one way or another, mal- { nutrition in some form causing defec- j tive digestive powers, adenoids and other complaints. As for natural feeding, it was never persevered with if any slight difficulty was experienced in the beginning, and feeding bottles : with insanitary long tubes were looked upon as the more ordinary and quite proper method of “getting rid of a : great responsibility,” as Sir Truby . himself phrases it. i PUBLIC INTEREST AROUSED. The society owes its origin to a large . public meeting in Dunedin in May, . 1907, convened by Dr. King at the in- ■ stance of friends who, from time to time, had expressed a desire to do , something in the work that he was carrying on more or less privately. At the outset Dr. King was fortunate in gaining for the society the interest of Lord Plunket, former Governor of New Zealand, and Lady Plunket. Lord . Plunket issued a pamphlet setting forth the necessity for such a mission , and appealing to all classes to join the society “for the sake of women and children; for the advancement of the Dominion and for the honour of the Empire.” Lady Plunket threw herself wholeheartedly into the work and showed her intense interest by lectuiing, demonstrating and personally helping the mothers and babies. As a mark of appreciation of her work the nurses of the society were given the name “Plunket. nurses” -and those qualified to do so wear the badge bearing the initial letters “V.P.” —Violet Plunket. " The society did not intend at first to open a home for babies, but seveial very bad cases were discovered and treated. ,Subsequently there was established in Dunedin the first dietetic hospital for infants in the world. It, became the society’s first training school for nurses and was called the Karitane hospital, m commemoration of the service rendered to the cause of mother and child by Dr. and Mrs King at their country house at Karitane. To-day there are Karitane institutions at Christchurch, Wanganui, Auckland, Wellington and Invercargill. The Karitane Products -Society was founded as an adjunct to the Plunket Society, its special field of work -being to manufacture at the lowest practical rates the best and highest grades of pure food materials for use in- the rearing of infants. All profits from the sale of the products t arc devoted entirely to the promotion ) of child welfare.

SIR TRUBY KING VISITS HAWERA. Some four or five years after the society had been firmly established in Dunedin Dr. King undertook a lecture tour of the Dominion and it was during this campaign- that, lie visited Hawera. His address, illustrated- with lantern slides, was given at -the Opera House and at its conclusion a number of Hawera residents interested in the movement remained to discuss matters with the visitor. Thus the nucleus of the present branch was formed, and among the members of the original committee were the Mayoress (Mrs A. W. Gillies), who was elected the first president, Mesdames R. 11. Nolan (now Lady Nolan), C. N. Paine, W. G. Kenrick and H. A. F-oyster (vice-presi-dents), Mrs 11. A. Lennon (honorary secretary), Mrs J. S. Young .(honorary treasurer), Nurse Keohanc, Nurse Harvey, Mesdames J. F. Pease, C. Hutchinson, T. L. Joll, R. F. Page, M. G. Bell, W. Struck, W. M. Thomson, J. B. Mac Diarmid, Nalder, W. J. Bright, J. R. Shore, W. Spence, - Cassell, Blayney, Morris, W. Robertson and. H. Sloan, Miss Hill and Miss -Clapcott. The town was canvassed for financial assistance and for the first year a Government subsidy of £72 15s 6d, on the basis of 24s in the £l, was obtained. Ten years later the subsidy had increased to £135 4s 7d and this year £177 13s 4d was received.

‘BABIES DEFINITELY IMPROVE.’

“While many of us were convinced as to the merits of the Plunket. system and the benefits of systematic and accurate feeding, it was very difficult for; a while to overcome the attitude -of many people that what was good enough half a century before was good enough then,” said one of the original members of the society when inteiviowed by a “Hawera Star” reporter last. week. “When the mothers discovered that the advice of the nurse was free, however, many of them were relieved of considerable anxiety and gradually Plunket methods came to be used to" the definite improvement .of the babies concerned. One very noticeable change at this -time was the greater attention paid by mothers to fresh air treatment. Never before were so many babies observed on verandahs and porches -sleeping oxplaying in their cradles,” the speaker continued. She believed that fiesh air, together with systematic feeding, held done ixiucli towards the elimination of so much of the less definite ill-health so often apparent in the “over-fed” children of those days. One of the activities of the branch in the first years of its existence was the purchase of milk to be distributed among necessitous families.

During the past 21 years the branch has had three nurses, the branch being most fortunate in obtaining the services of women with a wide knowledge of mothercraft and a ready sympathy and understanding. The first nurse was Miss F. E. -Gulley (now deceased), who inspired the confidence of -all with whom she came in contact. Her work was of a most arduous nature and on her retirement after three years Nurse L. M. Dix continued the movement with marked success until she too retired after service extending over a period’ of 15 years.

REMINISCENCES OF NURSE DTX,

On the occasion of her retirement m 1931 Nurse Dix recalled some of her experiences on arrival from St. Helen’s Hospital (Auckland) to take up her appointment in Hawera, and vividly described how she covered a very extensive district on a bicycle. “I do not care to dwell on. the memory of those awful days,” said Nurse Dix at the time. “It seemed to me that Taranaki weather became at its worst during the first four years of my residence here. I had to travel over terrible roads -at all hours and in wind and rain.” It was late in 1916 that Nurse Dix commenced her work in Hawera and -at that time the nearest branch of the society was -at Wanganui. Hawera really pioneered the work for the whole of the Taranaki Province. It was not long, however, before the benefits of the Plunket system in maternity welfare were fully appreciated and a branch formed in New Plymouth. “At one time, prior to this move,” said Nurse Dix, “I even had to give assistance in New Plymouth by correspondence. This happened quite often- and I frequently made long trips by ti’ain in difficult cases.” -SUB-BRANCHES FORMED. The volume of work increased in neighbouring districts also, and with the forming of sub-branches at Stratford, Eltham and Patea Nurse Dix found that her time was fully occupied. A car was provided at this stage and, with the widespread district to be covered, this form of transport proved of inestimable value. At last Opunake established an independent branch and took over Manaia and Kaponga, all of which towns had- been visited regularly by car from Hawera. Stratford -also became a centre and took in Eltham and some years later Patea, which previously had broken away from Hawera and was served with greater convenience from Wanganui, also became independent with its own nurse. Today New Plymouth has at least three nurses covering an extensive district in Northern Taranaki, while in Central and Southern Taranaki four nurses are occupied and work four separate districts with headquarters at Stratford, Opunake, Hawera and Patea.

FREE SERVICE TO PUBLIC. The present Plunket nurse (Miss J. McColl) came from Warkworth (North Auckland) in April, 1931, and from Hawera covers a territory extending as far afield -as iMatapu, -Okaiawa, Te Roti, Tokaora and Mokoia. In spite of the fact that the original district served by the branch has been reduced, the work entailed to-day is almost equal to that of 10 years ago. In- 1922-23 055 cases were attended -at Hawera, compared with 604 for 1932-33. New cases in 1922-23 totalled 267 (152), cases retained on the books 495 (452), visits to homes 3676 (1640), visits to rooms (54 2 8 ( 6 5 52). When interviewed, Nurse McColl said she would be happy if more mothers could lie encouraged to take a practical interest in the Plunket system and to avail themselves of prenatal as well as post-natal advice. The main function of the Plunket nurse was systematically and tactfully to educate -and help parents and others in the hygiene of the home and nursery. The services of the nurse were free to any and every member of the community, but at the same time parents who could afford to do .so were invited to make a contribution to the society and thus assist in broadening the work. Mothers could bring their babies to the rooms once a week for

the first year for weighing and also to discuss with the .nurse matters of diet, the deficiencies in which could quickly , be rectified and the child placed on the highroad to good health. It was in the first year that the foundations of a child’s future life were laid. The greatest essential in this period was well-balanced and suitable meals. Nurse McColl said she would like to see more mothers continue their visits to the rooms at least once a month for six months after the first year, asd thereafter once every six months until school age. There was a great .need for continued supervision at intervals during the pre-school period, for good habits formed at this age would remain with a chad for life. On commencing school the child automatically passed under the supervision of the department ’s health officers and dental nurses with whom the Plunket nurse worked in conjunction. BRANCH ADMINISTRATION.

Former presidents of the society and the years in which they held office include the following:— 1912-1913 —The Mayoress, Mrs A. W. Gillies. 1914 —Mrs H. A. Foyster. .1915 —Mrs R. H. Nolan; Mrs E. O. Blamires and .Mrs Foyster (act-ing-presidents during Mrs Nolan’s absence in England). 1916 — Mrs Blamires. 1917- —Mrs W. Spence. 1920-1921 —Mrs Foyster. 1922 — (Mrs Bruce Joll. 1923 Mrs Joll. 1924 — Mrs Foyster. 1925 Mrs M. C. Goodson. 1926 Mrs A. M. Winks. 1927 — Mrs Goodson. 1928 Mrs Winks. 1932 — Mrs It. R. Henderson. 1933 — Mrs Winks.

A very active part has been taken by Mrs Winks in the work of the branch and she holds the longest record of service of any other member. Mrs Winks recalls that the branch first occupied rooms in what is now r a butcher’s shop in High Street, and later was located in Union Street before removing to the premises in High Street now used, as offices. The next move was when the branch took two rooms in a building now used as a boarding house. Late in 1924 a campaign was organised jointly with the I-lawera Boy Scouts Citizens’ Committee for the erection of the present building in Albion Street, the front portion of which is used as Plunket rooms and the rear portion for Scout and Cub work.

The Hawera Borough Council fittingly recognised the work of the branch by allowing the free lease of the property occupied by the building and the Hawera Rotary Club on that occasion played a valuable part in raising the sum of £4OO required to erect the building. Mrs Winks remembers the occasion on which she and Mrs .Goodson attended the saleyards where a sheep donated by Mr W. A. Duckworth was auctioned and realised £lOl Is 6d. Early in 1925, when the borough council reached its decision with regard to the location of the hall, certain of the residents in Albion Street protested against 'the building being erected near their homes on the grounds that it would be a “probable nuisance” during Scout parades. The objection was overcome in some w-ay or other and the building proceeded with and completFor many years the branch has had the advice on matters of finance of an advisory board of prominent businessmen and others interested, among whom Mr W. Jobson has rendered signal service in connection with the maintenance of the nurse’s car. Many vehicles of all makes and sizes have passed through his hands and to-day Nurse McColl has a fine type of allweather car in which to make her round of calls. One other member of the society who lias given service over a long period of years is Mrs J. D. ‘Tait ? the present treasurer, whose "work was the subject of an expression of appreciation at the recent annual meeting. Other officers of the society for the present, year are vice-presidents, Mesdames W. Jobson, L. A. Bone, J. L. 'Carter, W. C. Fyfe, A. Rae, A. Oorrigan, E. M. Bardsley and R, R. Henderson; committee, Mesdames R. Campbell, :S. A. Chisholm, H. E. Cressey, A. K. Fyson, B. Haseltine, J. T. Humphreys, T. Moss, G. iSI Pickett, M. .Stead, P. Trim and S. R. Vei'teh; secretary, Mrs Arthur Beck; honorary auditor, Mr E. K. Cameron; honorary solicitor, Mr G. Chuck; advisory hoard, Messrs W. Jobson, G. Chuck, L, A. Bone, H. G. Dickie, A. K. Fyson and Dr. W. F. Buist. PROGRESS OVERSEAS. Gradually at first, but more rapidly of late years, the movement has spread throughout New Zealand and to-daj there are some 80 branches in existI ence. The great majority of the promoters of the "work of this large voluntarv organisation are busy mothers “with the responsibilities and cares of a household. All have given their time, their money and, best of all, themselves to the cause of the maintenance of health. Old prejudices have been swept away and -by this most potent means of .all these mothers arc contributing their shaic to the prevention of disease and suffering. In addition to the blanches, equally good work is being done throughout the Dominion by scores ot local committees in charge of out-sta-tions which arc visited regularly by nurses. The Plunket system has extended beyond Now Zealand to many other parts of the world, including South Africa, China and India with remarkably good results.