Hospital Nurses Aid Patriotic funds With First-Class Concert

Northern Advocate, 8 March 1943, Page 2

Hospital Nurses Aid Patriotic funds With First-Class Concert

- Nurses of the Whangarei Hospital * staff surpassed all expectations in their c concert in the .Town Hall on Friday 1 evening for the purpose of assisting * the cause of the Nurses’ Mother in ■ the Fighting Services’ Mothers’ Patriotic Appeal. Before an audience which almost packed the hall, the nurses presented s a stei'ling entertainment with singing, i dancing, elocutionary items and comedy sketches, concluding with a - brilliantly staged pageant of nursing, s illustrating the development of the art 1 through the centuries to the present - day. ! ’ True Vocation 3 So good in acting -and characteri- ' sation were some of the nurses that 1 doubts were raised whether they may • have missed their true vocation ,in - following a white-uniformed career s instead of the more colourful histrionic - life. Perhaps they surprised them- / selves, but certainly the audience wondered at the talent in such a comparatively small institution as a hospital. Not one item failed to please e and recalls were frequent. 2 During the evening. Mr. R. G. Hose king, who acted as master of cereV monies, introduced to the audience i Colonel Willis, of Army Medical Heads' quarters, Wellington, who congratulatr ed the nurses on their work and on V their efforts in aiding the patriotic i fund cause. New Zealand nurses, she d said, had taken their places in the forct front of the battles overseas and g returning servicemen had stated that o every one of them deserved the Royal . Red Cross or the Victoria Cross for j their great work among the fighting men. Impressive Pageant The final item on the programme, the pageant of nursing, which preceded the 1 singing of “Land of Hope and Glory” and s the National Anthem, was an instructive „ study of leading figures in the history of the profession. Interesting commentary t by Mrs A. M. Woods enabled the audience ■, to view each of the significant figures, dressed in the garb adopted by them, with ' all its colour and significance, with greater t interest. Singly the historic figures look s the stage and after each relative commentary mounted a patriotically draped b platform at the rear until the whole his--2 tory of nursing to the present day had I- been depicted. First was the Goddess of Health. Hygein. J daughter of the Greek God of Medicine, r with her symbol cf wisdom, -a serpent j and its dish; then came Phoebe, an early convert, to Christianity and a house visit--3 ing nurse; Fabiola. one of a group cf y Noble Roman matrons who gave up wealth and pleasure to devote herself to nursing and who built the first Christian public hospital in Rome; a nursing nun, representing the religious nursing orders; ■ St. Hildergard, a German abbess and 3 mystic; Queen Elizabeth of Hungary'. on -1 - cf the most beloved of saints and nurses 1 of the Middle Ages who built hospitals 3 and worked in them herself; a Knight Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, rep- '• resenting the military nursing orders of 2 tiie Crusades: St. Francis of Assissi. who renounced ease and wealth to become a ' nursing missionary to the lepers. To Modern Times From the 17rh cenrury came a Sister oi Charity, trained in nursing and social • work, who did not wish to be tied by I strict vows or enclosed in convent walls. :> but took charge of hospitals and homes: then came Mrs Elizabeth Fry, an English ■ Quakeress of wealth who was promoter - of prison reform and who became in--3 teresfed in nursing, helping - fo form and , train an order of nurses; Mrs Fleidnor. 1 who founded a training school foi deaconesses at Kaisarwerth, in Germany, where Florence Nightingaie received training; Sarah Gamp, a character used by Dickens to caricature nursing and instin--1 tute reforms. ■s In long black robes and white head--5 dress and carrying her lamp came Florence ■ Nightingale, revered as the founder of i modern professional nursing; a Sr. t Thomas’ nurse from the training school , established by Florence Nightingale; a - New Zealand Army Nurse of 1914. serving . with distinction in the Great War; Nurse i Edith Cavel], the British heroine executed , by the Germans; a New Zealand Nurs- ' ing Sister trained in Dominion hospitals; : a Private Nurse, caring for ihose prefer- > ring treatment in their own homes; an . Obstetrical Nurse skilled in care of “ mother and baby; a Piunker Nurse, providing further care of mother and baby and teaching molhercraft; a District Health Nurse, working in the field to improve the health of tlie community : among native and white populations; an - Army Nurse of today, following in the . footsteps and carrying on the noble tradi- ' lions cf the Great War; a Student Nurse of : today - , knowing nursing as an art and a ; science, training in all branches of nursing. As a conclusion Florence Night- : ingaie (Nurse Baker) recited the Nurses' Creed. Engrossng in its interest and Ihe manner of its staging, the pageant well deserved the applause accorded it by the audience. Comedy Sketches In lighter vein were the numerous sketches. With Nurse Laing, Nurse Dewberry early won favour with a humorous gossiping sketch and she went on to score one of the hits of the evening with a recitation which questioned whether “Bill” Hall, and other Whangarei doctors, all familiarly addressed, could do a number of highly improbable things such as emulating the smiling face of a beheaded pig, mounted in the butcher's window and crowned with a sprig of parsley. With Nurse Baker, who proved herself also no mean actress, she starred in another sketch relating to the squeamishness of elderly women. A burlesque operation brought the house down. Staged in full view of the audience the whole sanguinary business was burlesqued in a most entertaining manner, the removal of foreign objects being followed by - shearing off the “appendix" with a pair of garden shears and a general exploration of ihe abdominal cavity by torch-light. Nurse Solomon was the surgeon adept' 1 wTrlf a carving knife. Nurse Laing the mallet-wielding anaesthetist. Nurses Williams and Wood the busy thoarre sisters. Nurse Goddard the rouseabout with fly-spray and flyswat. and Nurse Hildreth the unfortunate patient. A sketch particularly well acted by every character was the sad but humorous story of “The Bathroom Door,” Nurse Baker being the opportunistic young man. Nurse Brooks a young lady, Nurse Weavers excellently' characterising an old man and Nurse Hildreth an old woman, Nurse Erewstr-r giving a dramatic impression of an exalted prima donna. and Nurse Bright as a succinct hotel “Boots.” Individual Talent The nurses also combined in a gypsy campfire scene with singing and dancing. The individual items were in keeping with the high standard of the rest of the programme. Nurse Brocks proved her versatility in vocal solos in which she revealed a nice voice while she also apneared in Scottish dances with Nurse Ecardman. whose Irish Jig had to be pealed. 4 Nurse- Russell was also in good voice in two ?clcs for which she was recalled as was Nurse W. Wiley for her well-executed r-iancforte solo and Nurses ,Merson and Cranston for their popular pianoforte duet. Nurse Solomon was as clover with her elocution as she later proved to be with her knife. Nurses Wiley - and Brooks were the accompanists. Inf reducing the programme the Whanparei and County Pipe Band played selections and a large band cf nurses sang die Nurses’ Anthem, while the band also performed to commence the second half.