CARE OF WOUNDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24274, 15 May 1942, Page 2

CARE OF WOUNDED

CONVALESCENT STAGE NEW ROTORUA HOSPITAL WELUEQUIPPED INSTITUTION No. 1 For soldiers suffering from physical injuries who require a long period of convalescent treatment, the new services convalescent hospital, erected by the Health Department on the lake shore at Rotorua, makes excellent provision. It is well placed from the point of view of climate, it is thoroughly equipped, it has the advantage of being close to the medically-developed thermal waters, and in the superintendent, Dr. W. S. Wallis, of Eotorua, it has an expert in orthopaedic TOrk. The medical. officer is Dr. W. Reeve, who has been transferred from the Hanmer Hospital. Miss G. Watt is the matron. Difficulties delayed the completion of the large building, but the contractor has handed over to the Public Works Department, which is now making its finishing touches. Some of the equipment has still to be installed, but actually it is a hospital in being with 70 of its 168 beds occupied, half of the patients being soldiers invalided from overseas. All Overseas Men Eventually Eventually, it will deal entirely with convalescents from overseas, but in the meantime, while there is surplus of accommodation, home service officers and men who are convalescing after initial treatment at other hospitals are being taken. The sitei is a little to the east of the jetty, and extends from Whakaue Street to the lake shore. Because of the quadrangular shape of the building, its size is not fully apparent from the street frontage. The structural square encloses an area of lawn into which the recreation hall and the occupational therapy block jut out, but there remains enough lawn to give space for some games suited to the capacity of the patients. To this lawn, square there is no access except tor pedestrians and men using wheeled chairs. Jutting out from the east side of the main structure is the dining room-kitohen store block, and from the west side the physiotherapy department. Attractive Wards There are four wards occupying the north and south sides of the rectangle. Following an excellent modern idea, each is divided by a partition, between the top of which and the ceiling is an open space which makes for good daytime lighting and better ventilation. On each side of the partition there are two rows of wooden beds of the type seen in good hotels, and for each bed "on the inside rows there is a tall wardrobe. The varnished rimu of the beds and jrardrobes gives a warm home kind of atmosphere to the place. The walls and partitions are tinted a pleasant light green that harmonises with the colour of the coverlet blankets of the beds. There is a white shaded reading lamp above the head of each bed, earphones for radio listening, and a night bell. Beside. each bed also is a comfortable stopl which should add greatly to the comfort of disabled men when dressing. No Privileges for Any Group For officers there are rooms, wards in miniature, similarly equipped. Apart from segregation of officers and other ranks in sleeping quarters and dining rooms, there is no difference of any kind and no privileges of any kind are given on account of rank or nature of war service. On the north side, facing the lake with its beautiful vistas of water and bush-clad slopes, is the recreation hall, a delightful, lofty, spacious place with many very high windows through which light and sunshine pour. This hall, with its equipment of billiard tables, and other recreational facilities, and its big comfortable chairs, has a stage for concert entertainment. On that side also are the sun rooms. The kitchen, another block with high ceiling, is. very roomy, and is equipped in the most modern way. It has stoves heated electrically and by coke fires, as, well as steamers in which all vegetables are cooked. There are tanks for the frying of fish in deep fat, an apparatus " for cleaning dishes by steam and every mechanical contrivance that the most exacting scientific cook could ask for. A canopy over the stoves and cookers carries away most of the steam and fumes. Heating System , Steam hot boxes of white metal hold the food until it is passed out to the servery waiters to be taken into the dining room opposite. This is filled with small tables, sufficient to accommodate all the patients, most of whom will be able to go to table. The building is steam-heated throughout and the detached boilerhouse also supplies a constant abundant supply of hot water for bathing. The bathing accommodation, mainly in the form of shower baths, has been provided on a generous scale. Steam heating is provided in the wards, not by the ordinary wallside radiators, but by appliances fitted high up on walls. Behind each is an electric-ally-driven fan which drives the heated air through the rooms. Ventilation without draughts or the danger of rain driving in, is secured by inward opening bottom-hinged panels of the hopper type at the bottom of the windows. The fresh air comes in over the head of a patient in bed and is directed upward. (To be Concluded). PROBATION GRANTED A motor driver, Tia Yates, aged 31, who pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a man and a woman on Christmas Eve so as to cause them actual bodily harm, appeared before Mr. Justice Fair for sentence yesterday. Mr. Henry said Yates was normally most industrious and abstemious. He was a keen athlete, but on this occasion had been under the influence of drink. His Honor said it appeared that Yates had been under a double provocation. He would be released on probation for two years and ordered to pay £lo' toward the costs of the proceedings, j