NELSON'S NURSES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 10 April 1912, Page 6

NELSON'S NURSES.

THE PROPOSED HOME

[ Everyone- willingly testifies to the noble work the nurses do in any community, and the people as a whole are ever ready to gratefully recognise those services. In Nelson Hospital the nurats are sadly in need of a proper home where they will be able to enjoy fully the few hours of leisure that come to thtm. At present, as is well known, they are situated in what was formerly Dr. Boor's private apartments on the first floor be- ( tween the two wards. The accommodation, whilst it is satisfactory in most respects, is already taxed to the utmost extent and uncomfortable overcrowding is the only prospect for the nurses tinder present conditions. But it is not for these reasons so much that a nurses* home is so urgently netded as for the purpose of g;wng them full advantage of their leisure hours. As at present situated the nurses who have been on duty during the night and are sleeping during the aay. hav t the traffic of the whole hes pit.il pa:sing beneath them, and this, with tne almost incessant ringing of the telephone bell, make quietness impossible, and the chances of a good sleep .are exceedingly email. Nurses who have been working patiently through the long hours of the night are surely entitled to the best conditions for their hours of rest during the day. And then, again, for those off duty during the evening 'there are not many prospects for enjoyment under present conditions. There must be no noise after eight o'clock, and of course this means that music must not be indulged in. Altogether, it is perfectly evident that the nurses are not at all comfortably situated, and a new and separate home, where they can be perfectly quiet, and where it will be possible for them at other times to indulge in ordinary enjoyments, is very necessary. Mainly through the activity of Mr A. H. Bisley a fund for such a building has been inaugurated, and already, by various means, a considerable sum has been collected. On Monday evening next Mr Marcus St. John, an elocutionist of no ordinary powers, is to give a dramatic recital from Charles Dickens' "The Christmas Carol," in aid of the fund, and it is expected that the public will attend in large numbers, for, besides the fact that the funds will be devoted to a worthy object, those who attend will be afforded a rendering, from memory, of course, of portions of the Christmas Carol, which once heard, when properly and dramatically given, is never forgotten.