DR. BAKEWELL AND NURSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 6 (Supplement)

DR. BAKEWELL AND NURSES.

TO UK FDITOB. Sir-I have no desire to enter the lists with such doughty pen-slashers as Dr. Batewell and Dr Giles. I have no desire to agree or disagree with either of those gentlemen; Imf I do desire to place on record my experience of Hospital nurses of the presont dav in Auckland. . ~ , , Having met with a serious accident at the end of last June, I was ambulanced to tho Hospital, lodged in the accident ward, mid after a week of oblivion discovered that 1 was in the Auckland Hospital suffering from the effects of a fall of about 15ft on to a hard-very hard—floor. I was a troublesome patient, unable to feed myself, helpless in every wav. I am nearly as old as Dr. Bakewell, and not nearly so handsome; yet, notwithstanding my age, and the absence of the "wicked winning ways' of the young fellow patients, the nurses tended me as patiently, tenderly, kindly, promptly, and attentively as if I had been their own bro ther. They always when turning me over for necessary application of linaments, and turning me back again, appeared to feel and pity me for tho pain to which, in performance of their duty, they had to subject me. Oh, how tenderly they handled me! T.io majority of the patients in the wards 1, 2, and 8, in which I was placed, wore men of advanced age, Rome of them no better-look-ing than Dr. Bakewell, Dr. Giles, and myself, yet they all received as much attention, if not more, than the junior patients; and when I became convalescent and able to walk about from ward to ward, visiting and trying to cheer up fellow-sufferers, I heard no complaints; but, on the contrary, tho highest praise of the nurses, the medical and surgical staff, and the management generally. One mot a few querulous patients occasi mally; but, after reasoning with them gently, they began to think they were not so badly treated bv the Hospital and Cliaritabla Aid Board, which might never demand payment for 'the saving of their lives and their board and lodgiig, of the latter of which I had 13 weeks. After this slight digression, let mo venture to remark that the Hospital nurse of to-day is a vast improvement on the nurse of Dr. Bake well'B youthful experience, and more power to tho Auckland nurses, and may their shadows never grow less (although soma aro mighty large), is the prayer of their grateful friend, Till Doolan.