NEW NURSES' HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19274, 12 March 1926, Page 14

NEW NURSES' HOME.

| THE HAMILTON STRUCTURE. | THE OFFICIAL OPENING. 1 ' S|a ! I GROWTH OF THE INSTITUTION. I [ill' TELEGRAM. —OWN CORUESrONDENX. ] HAMILTON. Thursday. |j The new nurses' Tiome at the Waikato •| Hospital was opened to-day by the fj Minister of Health, Hon. J. A, \oung. 'I The weather was lino and there was a r largo attendance. Mr. J. P. Bailey, 1 chairman of the Hospital Board, prcs sided and welcomed the visitors. | Mr. I). Stewart Rcid, M.P., saicl local | bodies were inclined to criticise the Wai- % kato Hospital Board when they found | themselves obliged to pay increasing * levies every year, but they recognised that ' in the Waikato Hospital they had a magnificent institution and a capable medical 1 mid nursing staff. * Dr. T. H. A. Valintine, Directoris* ©eneral of Hospitals, paid a glowing triI but'O to the self sacrifice and heroism of :| the New Zealand nurses, and quoted in- ■|| stances where ttiey had during serious * epidemics remained on duty after they I had been told there was an almost ccr- | tain chance of fatal infection. He foreI shadowed the day when the trained s| nurses would be boarded out and the I nurses' homo would be used as private ;r hospitals, governed by the hospital boards, if in which the patients' own doctors would | bo permitted to practice. These instill tutions would be under the supervision 1 of the medical superintendents. Mr. Young spoke in terms of cordial appreciation of tho work of the nurses and said they should be properly housed. Tho Waikato Hospital stood in high reI pute throughout New Zealand, due to the | flxcellenco of tho work of tho medical | and nursing staffs. The speaker referred :fj to the first superintendent, Dr. Henry, || and to his successors, Drs. Douglas and jlj Gower, and to the matrons, Miss Bothill well and Miss Hogg. In the last 10 years tho nursing staff S of the Waikato Hospital had increased |i from 42 to 88, said Mr. Young, and the i; domestic staff from 24 to 55. The number i of beds had increased in that time from p 160 to 284 and the number of patients in j| the year from 1710 to 2800. During the I last decade the capital value of the Wai- € kato Hospital district had increased from J £17,740,000 to £35,820,000. I : After Mr. Young had formally declared 3 the nurses' home open tho visitors were I shown through the building and enter- ! tained to afternoon tea. The hospital iwas visited and demonstrations in tho X-ray and bacteriological departments were given. It was in March, 1923, owing to th-a lack of room in the old home, not only in regard to sleeping quarters, but. also the urgent need for a lecture room and other essential accommodation, that the board decided to apply to the Minister for consent to erect the nucleus of a new home. Following,.lengthy negotiations with the Health Department tenders for the building were called in October, 1924, the contract price being £19,892. « : Tho home is of rather unusual design. ■ 'lt consists of three elevations, and there is a central block with wings on each side. I this formatioh being necessary to enable !; the building to be' adapted to the section j I upon which it has been erected. Although ; built only to a height of two storeys at Sj present, provision has been made for the | addition of an extra floor whenever needs 1 demand. I The home is fireproof, and in it there | are 50 single bedrooms, each of which ■ 12ft. by Bft. They are each I! 'fitted with a built-in dressing ta'ble and | wardrobe. The interior is constructed on | the, most modern lines, and the various | rooms with their plain white plaster, S panelled walls and ceilings, present a very | wight and airy appearance. A spacious I recreation room is provided on the ground | floor, while there is' also a reception | room for the benefit of friends visiting the nursing staff. There are also the I library, writing and sewing rooms and i the lecture hall. The floors are neatly finished with wood on top of concrete and the yards at tho rear of the building I have been laid down in concreto. 3 _ Enclosed verandahs on tho second floor, i| in the centre of the eastern und western 3 wings, add greatly to the dignity of the I construction. There is also a spacious | cpen verandah over tho entrance portico I of tho first floor. The roof is attractively j finished in tiles. The architects were Messrs. Warren and Reid, of Hamilton, and the builders Messrs. Andrews Bros., of Hamilton. TiSie grounds around the home will be laid out in gardens and lawns.