WHY THEY LEFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26779, 24 May 1948, Page 6

WHY THEY LEFT

HOSPITAL WORK NOT CONGENIAL ENGLISH GIRLS’ EXPLANATION P 4i,eir eSSSTS Wad Hospital for work m a Cnristcnurcn .Siven .by Saturday denied that they had “nacked up without a word, as stated by & a member of the Southland Hosp> tal Board, but agreed that there had not been a proper selection of girls in England for nursing in New Zeala"We reached the Riverton Hospital in February, and it was not long before we found that we were psychologically unsuited to the work.” said one of the women “We told the matron that we were unhappy but she paid n ? attention yet we were fast developing into cot ’cases Our health was suffering more aU the time. We could not sleep and we could not eat. In spite of the fact that we told the matron we were unhappy, she told the immigration officer at Invercargill next day that we were happy. We learnt this the fol lowing day when we saw the officer and told him we wanted to leave. That W “ S \Ve told* 1 the immigration officers both in Invercargill and Christchurch that we were wining to pay back our fares because we had left before two years was up, but they would not hear of it When we did not hear anything at all from the Invercargill officer and it became apparent that there was no move to have us released from the hospital, we made up our minds to, leave. It is true that we did not say anything to the matron, but we had no wish to make a scene as she would have done. Instead we left her a note explaining our reasons and outlining our intentions. We think nursing is a noble profession, but it must suit a person.