THE NURSES' MEMORIAL FUND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1012, 3 November 1917, Page 4

THE NURSES' MEMORIAL FUND.

Tiikse are the days of many claims upon the public, and one has to have an unusually long purse to respond to every appeal that is made on behalf of the very deserving objects for which public, .sympathy is sought. But some claims are rightly regarded a.s paramount, especially those of a patriotic character. It is our duty to care for the creature, comforts of the men who are ligating for us at the front, and to J .see that the sick and wounded amongst them, ami their dependant*, are properly provided lor. And with the soleliers are, of course, included the nurses who so cheerfully ami readily volunteered for service in the hospital ships, and in the military camps m Egypt and France. New Zealand owes much to these brave and devoted women, and it has been suggested that, as a permanent memorial ol their work, a F'uinl should be established to be called "The New Zealand Nurses’ Memorial Fund,'" the immediate object of which will be the granting of assistance to trained nurses who, through sickness or misfortune find their circumstances strailj cited so that they are unable to keep themselves in even moderate comfort, in the closing years of a life that has been devoted to the care ol others. In the very nature of things a nurse’s life is both arduous and trying, the work entailing long hours of vigilant care ol 1 lie sick and dying, with a continual nerve strain which, in some cases, necessitates a comparatively early retirement from the duties of the profession. Whoever else goes unassisted in their days of possible ill-health and penury, these devoted women should not, and we are glad to see that a move is being made ui Palmerston North to help augment the New Zealand Nurses’ .Memorial Fund.