WANTED, £20,000

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23203, 29 May 1937, Page 5

WANTED, £20,000

PLUNKET SOCIETY'S APPEAL NEW KARITANE HOSPITAL INADEQUACY OF PRESENT PREMISES .The Royal Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society) has launched an appeal for a sum of £20,000 to provide a new hosspital and training ground on the site of the -Karitane-Harris institution at Anderson's Bay, to replace existing premises, which, after 30 years' invaluable service to the community, have outlived their usefulness. The cause is one that should commend itself to all who have the health of the nation and the future of race at heart, for, like no other institution or hospital of its kind, the Karitane'Home has a' prime function which goes to the.very root of things and aims at the building of the life instead of the patching and healing of broken lives and health.

AIMS OF THE SOCIETY SCATTERED, HAPHAZARD BUILDING : NEW PREMISES URGENTLY * NEEDED During the past 30 years the Karitane Hospital, which had its beginnings in the untiring enthusiasm and long vision of Sir Truby and Lady King, and in the generosity of certain public-spirited citizens who realised the future, ahead of such work and provided much-needed funds, has worked steadily on the one hand towards the goal of a mini* mum infantile and maternal mortality. Oh. the other hand it has aimed at ."the inculcation in the mothers of the nation of ah appreciation and understanding of the cardinal principles of mothwcraft and infant welfare; without which the prospect of healthy: and useful succeeding generations must,' to say the least ojff.iti pe, uncertain. The institution does hot concern itself so much with weak or ailing children, although many of these come under.its beneficent influence and are enabled *to overcome the handicaps of infant disability which, huthe past,' have resulted in permanent ill-health or physical incompleteness later on in life. Its chief aim is to ensure simple but Properly scientific and efficient care for babies not at the hands ofc trained experts, but by -their own mothers, in their own honies. The whole system of Karitarie training arid instruction has been conceived and designed ; with reference to the ■ normal facilities and» conveniences of ; the. average Home. There has been no,, attest to establish extravagantly equipped clfnics'bf hospitals in which trained nurses arid" experts 7 can accomplish things for young life that the average person would find impossible in his own household. One of the first principles of the system has been simple; unelaborate,, but efficient care of the: infant, based on conditions which families can easily reproduce in.their own homes. ' INSURING AGAINST WASTE

The importance of such a mission cannot easily be exaggerated, since it strikes at one of the most costly and at the same time uniyersal evils of modern life—sickness illhealth/ which is probably One of the greatest economic burdens that any country has:to' carry. is' '.regarded, illness is waste. .Thousands and thousands! of pounds *are annually in every centre of New Zealand on the heartbreaking and frequently futile task of building up broken bodies, healing diseased tissues, and setting right physical conditions which in far too many cases have been the result of improper or inadequate care and attention in the all-important period of infancy. So much of this useless expenditure and waste could be saved, and has been saved in the last three decades, by a national system of the'kind that has been instituted by the Plunket Society—and not only in New Zealand but by many other countries/which have built up a national service based entirely on Sir Truby King's system—that the work of the Royal Society for the Health of Women and Children must always be Of the first importance. It has been found, however, that efficiency is no longer possible , with the facilities at hand, and the society has lately been compelled to watch an unavoidable harrowing of the scope of its activities as a result of the inadequacy of its premises and its facilities for training young mothers in the care of children, young nurses in infant welfare and the ore-natal and postnatal care of children and mothers, and the maintenance of that household service which is carried on in every borough and, hamlet' of the country by the army of Plunket nurses who have been trained at the society's institutions."

IMPORTANCE OF SIMPLICITY "A : Daily Times reporter spent an afternoon at the Karitane Hospital at Anderson's Bay lately, and while there was given a convincing demonstration not only of the hopeless insufficiency.of existing conditions, but also hi the modest and commonsense principles on which the institution has been conducted during the 30 years since it was opened. Emphasis, however, must be laid on the fact that it is not the desire of the society to provide de--luxe, working conditions, expensive clinical premises or costly equipment of a kind that would make for ultra-efficient training and instruction which would be useless when applied to ordinary domestic

conditions in the home. The attitude of the society in such matters was clearly and decisively defined in 1907, when it concurred in the view expressed by Mr Wolf Harris in one of the conditions of the deed of gift which accompanied his presentation to the society of the house at Anderson's Bay which has formed the nucleus of the present institution. In that deed Mr Harris asked that wherever possible, without detriment to the instruction given or without in any,way minimising unduly the services rendered to mother and child, the work of the hospital should be carried out on simple, elementary lines which could be mastered by every mother using the institution and eventually reproduced in her own home for the future benefit of herself and other children that she might have. The request was one which coincided perfectly with the ideas of the founder of the movement, Sir Truby King, and also with the views of the early enthusiasts whose pioneering work, often in the face of keen opposition and criticism, ; laid, the foundation's of the present invaluable national service. By this means the society was early able to demonstrate that the Plunket system and facilities,it:offered to mothers was not, as it had been so often described, "a rich woman's fad." There was no question of providing care and attention for the babies of .people who could afford to i have their children looked after in their .most trying age by others trained to do so. The main aim of the isociety was to help and instruct" young mothers and to. provide an insurance of good health for the child, and it • was . not -long before the hundreds who'. were relieved of that anxiety and worry that accompany ignorance became living advertisements for the efficacy of the system. They found that what they were told to do could easily be done because it was all presented to them and demonstrated to them in a mariner and under conditions, in the cottage hospital, which obtained in the normal wage-earner's home.

' But notwithstanding the anxiety of the founders of the society that everything at the Karitane Hospital should be simple and easy of practice and adoption, it is. certain that . none of the society's benefactors, and much less Sir Truby and Lady King, intended that the small beginnings of the hospital at Anderson's Bay should be perpetuated as an. earnest of that desire for absence of ostentation or display. And for that reason it cannot be questioned 'St'the present time, that great improvements are necessary if the work is not to suffer. Many minor improvements have been effected to the premises from time to time and gradually the network of buildings has been increased but the need today is for an entirely new hospital. The only modern and really useful department of the hospital at present is the handsome nurses' home, which was erected in 1925 by the Department of Health on land given for the purpose by the Massey family in Southland as a memorial to two sons who were;killed in action in the Great War. That building was designed as a hostel and accommodation house for the trainees at the hospital, and it stands to-day as an eloquent reproach to the humble and obsolete little frame hutments and cottages in which the principal work of the institution is carried out year after year. PERIODICAL DEVELOPMENT It was in 1907 that the Wolfe Harris Hospital was opened. It was a medium sized dwelling of the villa type standing in the middle of a spacious garden and bush of several acres. The only other buildings on the property were the stables nearby. But it was an encouraging beginning, and the house was soon furnished and equipped as a Karitane hospital. In a matter of months, however, space was at a premium, and eventually the - stables were cleaned out and lined, and the staff found themselves housed, not uncomfortably, in loose boxes, where in the earlier days of the property horses had stamped and champed. Some.of these rooms are still in use at times to-day, and the meagre nature of the alterations and improvements effected can be seen in the outlines of actual loose-boxes that are still part of the furniture of these tiny cubicle rooms. Not only the ground floor of the stables were put into use, but also the loft, which was commissioned about the same time and used by different members of the staff, and not infrequently by mothers and children.

Then came the time when house and stables combined were unable to cope with the demand for room space and "Brown Paper Alley" was built as an annexe to the •stables. This picturesquely named department comprised a row of small rabbit-hutch rooms composed of nothing more substantial than a v/ooden framework and walls of a black malthoid sort of material. There was no weather boarding or iron to buttress these flimsy walls, which could be burst right through by a falling prop or even a vigorously directed fist. An addition was later found necessary when the elements had done their worst, and a 30-inch strip of light galvanised iron was tacked along the side at the level of falling props. But the crude wall materials of the greater part of " Brown Paper Alley " still remain,

and it is here that the majority of the domestic staff of the hospital is housed. TEMPORARY RELIEF MEASURES In the meantime the situation was becoming intolerable in the Wolf Harris Hospital itself, and the carpenters were kept busy adding a piece here, a lean-to there, knocking out a slice of wall on one side and cutting through an extra doorway on the other, to make the small rooms larger and more suitable for the main departments of an administrative block. The result is a sort of maze of passages and doorwavs which baffles description and must nearly drive visitors to distraction. But even more important is the difficulty of working under such conditions through the impossibility of direct communication between wards and nurseries and sun porches. The narrow veranda of the original house has been extended and built on to until it now comprises a large glassed-in sun balcony, but its usef lness, like that of almost every room in the house, is impaired by the economical and in-

adequate character of the alterations and the a! sence of -iroper connecting passages and doorways. The Amy Carr Mothercraft Cottage was opened in 1918, and provided the first real accommodation for mothers, and therefore facilitated one of the chief objects of the society—to carry out infant welfare work at the hospital and also mothercraft instruction without

separating mother and child. But here again small beginnings were quickly found to be too small, and with accommodation for only about half a dozen mothers, the work of the hospital in this connection had to be very restricted. It was found impossible to keep mothers for more than a limited period, and, with a continual stream of applications, it was often necessary to curtail the stay of some inmates to make room for urgent cases. The only other addition to the hospital premises proper since its inception has been the up-to-date brick laundry department, whifch, like everything else, stands completely detached from every other part of the institution, midway between the Wolf Harris building and the stables and " Brown Paper Alley." Its newness, its compactness! and its modern equipment and arrangement merely serve to throw into bolder relief the unsatisfactory and inaopronriate character of other buildings which should 8e infinitely more important than a washhouse in the society's activities. Lack of funds and a disinclination to expend

too much on buildings that have outlived their have done much to heighten the contrast. Paint is to be found peeling off the walls, woodwork needs renovating, and there is so much patching and replenishing to be done that the only alternative, the society has is to rebuild the establishment completely. It is for this purpose that an appeal is being made for a sum of £20,000, which will provide a hosoital in keeping with the great work the society is doing and yet comply with the ideas of the founders of the movement and the present attitude of the society—simple . instruction in mothercraft and child welfare along lines readily adaptable to the ordinary wage-earner's household.

THE FIRST £SOOO The following donations have been made to the Plunket Society's building campaign fund: Lord Nuffield ...... .. £IOOO Misses Johnstone ... .. ~ 500 "Anonymous" .. .... .. 500 Dunedin City Council .. '., 500 Dunedin Savings Bank .. .. 500 Lady Sidey .. ~ 250 Sir Percy Sargood 200 J. Edmond's estate (approx.) .. 200 Mrs Joseph M'George .. ... 100 Miss Theomin .. .... .. 100 T. K. S. Sidey ... .... .. 100 "Anonymous" .. 100 Mosgiel Woollen Factory, Ltd. 100 N.Z. Breweries, Ltd. (Speight's branch) .. 100 Otago Daily Times Co. .. .. 75 Evening-Star Co. .. 75 Lady Allen .. ... .. 50 Sir Louis and Lady Barnett .. 50 Mrs Mary. Allan 50 Mrs Donald Reid 50 Mrs Thomas Fergus, sen. .. 50 Mr and Mrs James Begg .. 50 Isaac Stevenson 50 Messrs Donald Reid and Co., Ltd 50 Westport Coal Co., Ltd 50 Kerrmthorne, Prosser, and Co.. Ltd 5° Messrs Coull. Somerville, Wilkie 50 Standard Insurance Co., Ltd. .. 50 £SOOO