NURSES IN CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20992, 1 October 1931, Page 14

NURSES IN CONFERENCE.

TRIBUTE BY MINISTER. COURAGE IN EMERGENCY. SERVICES AFTER EARTHQUAKE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] AVELLINGTON, Wed need ay. The annual conference of the New Zealand Traired Nurses' Association was officially opened to-day by the Minister of Health, Mr. J- A. Young, who made his first appearance at a pjiblic function since his recent appointment to tho Coalition Ministry. Mr. Young, who was accorded an enthusiastic reception, said that although no had been separated from the Health Department for more than two and a-half years he had continued to take a keen interest in all matters pertaining to public health. "This year," said the Minister, "has been a. particularly difficult one for everyone, including the nursing world. Those nurses who are in charge of institutions liave been faced with the problem of a considerable reduction in expenditure and yet the standard of work being done must be maintained. This has called for much ingenuity and has brought about administrative reforms which ultimately will be of benefit to the hospital system as *1 whole. Those nurses who are engaged in private practice have been badly affected with unemployment, due, no doubt, to a variety of conditions." Looking back over the past year, the event which affected the profession most closely—the Hawke s Bay earthquake—had proved, said Mr. Young, that the young nurse of to-day could rise and overcome great difficulties in limes of emergency as well as her older sister. In this calamity seven nurses were killed and several were severely injured, one or two of whom, he understood, were even now not fit for duty. The courage of the Napier Hospital staff an J the private hospital staffs at Napier and Hastings had roused the admiration of everyone, continued the Minister. Then the magnificent response from all over the Dominion, both in service and gift-s, when the call for iielp came, had renewed one's faith in human nature. In addition to the actual hospitals at Napier and Hastings, other hospitals in Hawke's Bay had suffered, as also to a varying extent had those in Wairoa, Waipukurau and Dannevirke. The hospital staffs did magnificent work. Mr. Young said he could not pass on without mentioning, too, the splendid response from Ihe adjacent hospitals, such as Pahr.erston North, Wellington, Wanganui, etc., which had suddenly to prepare for a large number of transfers. Dr. Watt, Director-General of Health, also addressed the conference.