BUSY HOURS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22421, 16 November 1934, Page 15

BUSY HOURS

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DISTRICT NURSE. The following information is taken from an address given by Mrs A. R. Falconer, at the half-yearly meeting of the Roslyu District Nursing Association; —• We shall imagine it is Monday morning. Nurse arrives at the rooms, 104 a Highgate, at 9 o’clock. She picks up the messages that have been put into the letter box, and between that and 9.30 a.m. answers telephone calls and interviews any folk who call. 9.30 a.m.: She begins her daily rounds. She arranges her work in accordance with the names and the locality to be visited. Naturally, sick people look for the nurse and like her to arrive at the same time every day, but urgent calls have to take precedence. Some patients are visited once or twice a week for treatment or to be sponged over and have their sheets changed. Many of the patients are aged or paralysed or suffering from chronic illness, yet, although they cannot be cured, they may be relieved, and death may come a little more easily in the homes of those unable to pay for private professional nursing care for their loved ones. This last month has been exceptionally heavy, as in many of the homes the whole family has been down with influenza, and often the nurse’s first duty on entering the home has been to find nourishment for. the family. In several cases father coming home from work at 5 p.m. has looked upon the nurse as a veritable angel. After lunch the nurse is again in the rooms from 2 to 3 p.m., and many varied and even strange are the inquiries that come in that hour: —A mother calls. She has a child on special diet, oranges, eggs, and honey. How is she to procure those when father is on relief? A mother discharged from hospital has strict instructions to do absolutely nothing (and to look at her you would think a puff of wind would blow her over). Yet in her home there are seven children, the oldest 14 years, working in the mill, and father a relief worker. In such a case the nurse gets in touch with Mies Westwood and a girl from the Unemployment Bureau is found. This girl is paid 7s 6d by the department and 2s 6d by the mother. Often the 2s 6d is hard to find, and as one mother said, “ It is always an extra mouth to feed.” Often those girls are very inexperienced and the nurse feels in duty bound to overlook their work Another question is “How to make a starch poultice ” ordered by a doctor, who, if time had permitted, would have called and shown the family how to do it. One of the principle aims of this nursing association is to show the relatives how to care for their sick themselves. One woman said recently that the nurse not only helped her but gave her heart again; while another woman said she was beginning to lose all her selfrespect. She felt so shabby—when one day the nurse arrived with a whole wardrobe for her. True, all the things were second-hand, but all were so clean, she had only to press them over. Three o’clock sees the nurse again, on her rounds. Just nearby a new mother comes home from Forth street, so the nurse steps in to see how she is, and if necessary leaves a tin of Ovaltine. Next case necessitates the use of a slot telephone—baby very ill; necessary to ring for the out-patient doctor doing hospital work, who may possibly order that the child be removed to hospital. Some of the patients are visited twice a day, and so in the afternoon the second visit is paid. So the day wears on and by 6 p.m. the nurse returns home. All day she has been giving out to others; often she must feel weary, but if she has helped to lift one burden it wag worth while. So one day follows another, with the exception of Wednesday afternoon when she is free, and a faithful worker from Maori Hill attends the rooms and arranges for. messages. On Tuesday afternoon, department day, the nurse remains at the rooms from 2 to 4 p.m., so that workers may consult her if necessary. But while to the nurse alone belongs the joy of personal touch, yet it is to the residents of the district area, the others who by their interest and support make the work possible, that must come the greatest blessing. For, into their lives will be echoed that message that has been ringing down through the years, “In as much as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto Me.”