MOTHER AND BABY

NZ Truth, Issue 1274, 1 May 1930, Page 15

MOTHER AND BABY

Alexandra. Homers Great Work Fpr Women FROM ALL PARTS OF N.Z.

(By Mrs. T. H. Gill, president of the Alexandra Home for Women, m a special interview with "N.Z. Truth.") r We started as a home for friendless women, many years ago, but gradually developed into a maternity hospital as well. We now have a new building and. the 1 improvements have gone a long way towards the comfort of the innmtes and efficiency of our staff.

THE new building was a result of a legacy left us by Dr. Edith Huntly, . who was particularly interested m "twilight sleep," m fact it was her hobby, and she desired further research work carried on m this direction. The hospital was completed about five or six years ago and is one of the most up-to-date m the Dominion. .During the year 371 women have passed through our maternity hospital, and through lack of space we have been forced to ask many women to go elsewhere. ■ . ' Women come to us from all parts of New Zealand. They are allowed to come m as many months as they like beforehand, but they must stay three months with us after the baby ,is

DQrn, m order to give ' him a fair chance. We charge a small fee, if they can pay, but more often they can't. The babies are either . adopted or committed to the care of the State. The Child Welfare has a say m our affairs so far as the children are concerned. However, there are many young mothers who absolutely refuse to part with , their babies and m cas e s of this nature we make every - effort to keep 'm touch with them. m i_ _ 1 i _i

x n c Alexandra Home is one of. the best training hospitals m New Zealand for maternity nurs t es. Last year our nurses all passed their examinations. Sisters from other hospitals will often apply for leave of absence m order to secure their midwifery training at the Alexandra Home. Girls training- for midwifery are required to stay for a year and they then qualify as maternity nurses. To obtain their midwifery certificate they have to take a certain number of "outside" cases and then return to the Alexandra Home for a further period of four months,, after which they sit for their final examination. , :. are,, entitled to hay e „a ny doctor they wish to attend them* jyyhile In' the Home. . ... ", i; important side 'of our-'work

is m connection with the ante-natal clinic which is open one day a week. Like our hospital the clinic can boast of being complete and up-to-date. Last year just over a thousand women, and girls passed through the clinic. Then we also have an isolation block, which is quite a little selfcontained flat standing away on its own m the grounds, so we are really quite self-contained. There are lawns and gardens neatly laid out, where mothers and babies may enjoy the benefits of fresh air and sunshine. We are able to provide some vegetables from our own garden, but not nearly sufficient for our requirements as we have a large fam-

lly to feed. This is the reason .why we are always so grateful to receive gifts of fresh vegetables and fruit a.nd we are more than grateful for gifts of old linen Wid baby clothes. The hospital work is only part of the work done by the Alexandra Home and m order to carry on our work m connection with the home for friend-. ' less women and babies, it is absolutely necessary that ■ we should have a new building. Generally speak -

ing there are about 23 women and girls at the Home, which is an old house always requiring repairs. Our need at the momejit is a new building to serve as a home for the friendless women and girls, but it requires more money than we have on hand, and unless some kind donors help us or we are left a legacy, it will be some years before we ar.e m a position to build. The Alexandra. Home is maintained by voluntary contributions and the demands on our resources, as can easily be imagined, are so great that there is little opportunity of putting by anything for the new home. Still, we are indeed very fortunate m having 1 so many friends and supporters and we feel confident that when the time comes their assistance will be forthcoming.