TRAINED NURSES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 14

TRAINED NURSES

AID IN EMERGENCY

COMPILATION OF REGISTER ORGANISED BODY PLANNED • Ail opportunity for trained nurses to piny an important and specialised pint in the scheme of civil defence is presented in a proposal to form an auxiliary nursing service. Following the compilation of a register, it is hoped to possess an organised voluntary body of women, willing and qualified to act on the occasion of any natioanl emergency. To advance the arrangements for the formation of tho service, an interim committee under the chairmanship, of Miss E. M. Nutsey, lady superintendent at tho Auckland Hospital, has been formed, and the Registered Nurses' Club in Mountain, Road has been established as an information bureau. The first official step in the compilation of the roll and in the organisation of the service is to be taken at a general meeting of all trained nurses in the Nurses' Home at the Auckland Hospital on tho evening of Wednsday,. May 24.

Hundreds of registered nurses are resident in tho Auckland district, and it is hoped .by the committee that there will be a large response to tho appeal for support to the proposed service. It was pointed out yesterday that preliminary organisation was necessary if any major disaster were to be met in a competent manner, and, for this reason, a roll should be compiled. This would contain full particulars of the experience and any specialised knowledge possessed by each nurse who was prepared to act in an emergency. Strength of personnel was essential, it was stated. For a casualty clearing station to cater for a population of 20,000 it was suggested that, in addition to medical officers, nursing administrators and a theatre sister, 50 registered nurses and a similar number of voluntary aids or auxiliary nurses would be required. Trained staff was the vital feature of such a service, and the success of the scheme would depend upon the measure of support it was accorded by registered nurses.