HOSPITAL SATURDAY ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 5

HOSPITAL SATURDAY ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL 'MEETING.

The annual meeting of the Hospital Saturday Association was held in the iown Hall on the 20th, Mr G. C. Israel presiding. , In submitting the report of the work or the association for the past year your oommittee has every reason to be pleased with the results achieved. All those who helped in furthering the objects of the association entered into the work with keen _ enthusiasm, while Otago has again maintained its good reputation for willing help when called upon to support a worthy object. The object this year was a most worthy one—“ to fight the White Plague ’ and provide further accommodation for those suffering from this dread disease. _ It should be remembered that the association has undertaken certain responsibilities regarding a pavilion for the treatment of suspected and advanced oases of consumption at the Secondary Hospital at Pine Hill. The residents of both town and country responded most generously to the appeal for help for the needy sick and suffering, and the very satisfactory total of £944 14s 8d was received, including a total of £7 11s for annual subscriptions. Tlie noble band of lady collectors, by their indefatigable zeal on Hospital Saturday, December 7, collected the handsome sum of £707 10s Id. Numbers of these ladies have been undertaking this work for years, and are required each year to fill up vacancies that, occur from various reasons. The more workers available the better will the association be able to organise the collection and extend its usefulness. The committee arranged in most instances for someone to kindly organise the work in the various country districts, and was successful in securing the services of ladies and gentlemen interested in philanthropic work, and to these ladies and gentlemen the executive is deeply grateful. In some instances, however, the executive was not able to obtain the assistance of anyone to undertake the work of organising the collection, but it is hoped that this year every district in the Otago Hospital area will be properly organised, and that by so doing the collection in the country will be materially increased and attain the previous high standard. The executive feels deeply grateful to those ladies and gentlemen who assisted with the collection in the country districts, and has to congratulate them on the results achieved. Lists were again sent to all the schools, and the very satisfactory sum of £42 16s lid was obtained from this source, and the association wishes to express to the scholars who contributed towards the collection its very best thanks for their very handsome contribution. Thanks are also duo to the teachers. Collection boxes were again placed in the various hotels in the city and suburbs, and the sum of £3O 4s 5d was obtained from this source.

The association has now been in existence for eight years, and it can look back with pride Ip the following benefits secured for the Dunedin Hospital;—The building and equipment of the new, out-patients’ department, at a cost of about £2000; the purchase and fitting up of the nex X-i-ay plant and room, at a cost of about £800; the fitting up and furnishing of a casualty reception and examination room, and a waiting room for relatives of patients, etc. ; and the balconies provided by the association, at a cost of about £2035 17s (including the Government subsidy of 24s in the pound), for the open-air treatment of chronic consumptives and pulmonary patients. In all, your association has handed to. the Hospital £4031, including £7OO collected in 1905 for Hospital extension. This amount, with the statutory subsidy of 24s in the pound, amounts to £BB6B. The collection last year, after paying all expenses, was divided amongst the various beneficiaries as fellows;—Dunedin Hospital, £406 (upon winch a subsidy of £437 was paid by the Government) ; St. John Ambulance Association, £200; Kari-tane-Harris Hospital, £120; Victoria Women’s Jubilee Canvalcscent Home, £25; Patients’ and Prisoners’ Aid Society, £6O; Dental Hospital, £lO. To thank all those who have favoured us with gratuitous services would bo impossible, but nevertheless wo are deeply grateful to all those who have assisted us in our work, no matter how small the services. In accordance with the rules, six members of committee—four gentlemen and two ladies—retire annually, but are eligible for re-election. These are —Mrs W. F. Edmond, Miss Burt, Messrs W. A. Moore, C. Speight, J. E. Bono, and F. G. Gumming.

The President moved the adoption of the report, and referred to the fact that there had been a slight falling off in the contributions last year. They usually looked forward to collecting £IOOO, but the amount last year had been slightly under that. There were several reasons for the falling off, and some of these he proceeded to explain. One reason that they had not fixed Hospital Saturday for the usual date was owing to it being a bank holiday, and they had thought it impolitic to take the collection on such a day, when small change was not easi.y obtainable. The collection had, however, kept up to standard in the city, but in the country there had been a decrease of about £B4. This, ho explained, ■was probably due to the fact that the country districts had not been visited by city members of the association as usual; and he proceeded to give an instance of how some mill hands had been enlightened as to .many matters in connection with hospital administration by such a visit being made, with the result that they had contributed liberally, the point of Mr Israel’s remarks being that a visit from those who understood the position better dispelled misconceptions that existed in the minds of many persons in country districts who were not in a position to ascertain for themselves what the precise position was. The association had now 11 church organisations working with it, and this had proved a distinct advantage. He referred to Alexandra Day at Home, and suggested that, with the aid of those who had gardens, gifts of flowers by the collectors might bo an effective means of inducing those who showed a reluctance to contribute to give way. He regretted the Withdrawal from active work of Mr W. A. Moore, Miss Burt, and Mrs Edmond. The Mayor (Mr W. Downie Stewart) seconded the motion, and referred in congratulatory terms to the good work done. In reference to the proposed allocation for this year, he, nt the instigation of others, brought prominently under the notice of

the meeting the claims of the KaritaneHarris Hospital, the Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society, and the Dental School, and touched upon the good work they were a 1 doing. Mrs tiindo Ferguson gave her impression of the most urgent needs of the Dunedin Hospital. She had had no idea of the amount of sickness and distress the Hospital Board was called upon to provide for previous to being elected a member of that body. Six months’ experience had convinced her that the Hospital was seriously overcrowded, and that the temporary expedient of providing shelters for advanced consumptives in the corridors must be put an end to. The corridors had been intended for patients from the adjoining wards for use in the day time, and they were the only means by which patients in the Dominion and Plunket Wards could get into the open air. They were -quite unsuitable for advanced cases of consumption. The most urgent improvement m the Hospital was the freeing of these balconies for their original purpose by the removal of tubercular cases to more suitable quarters. They "could, however, do nothing until they had' a suitable building at Pine Hill, and she thought that every effort should be made to provide the accommodation as toon as possible. There was no doubt that many chronic cases were not suitable for th. eanatorium, and wore meet unsuitable o a general hospital, even if it had beds to spare, which the Dunedin Hospital certainly '^Mr 11 J. H. Walker (chairman of the Hospital Board!, referring to charges made to patients, said the number of admitted to the Hospital dur.ng the year ending March 31 last , ’ and of these 1142 had paid no fees, 380 town patients had paid 5s per y, • country natients had done the same, 11 children had paid 3s a day, PaUcnts had paid part fees, and 304 patients belonged to friendly societies. One mu., realise from these figures that there was • large amount of treatment not charged and yet one heard it said that the board was inflicting hardships upon the people. He thought that was not a correct statement. At every meeting of the board 30 or 40 cases were passed over m winch no charge was to be made, which showed that the beard was quite alive to the necessity of not inflicting hardship upon anyone. Speaking of rating, he said no doubt t.ho rates presesd heavily upon small districts, but it was necessary that a certain amount of money must be raised. Ihe uiea had got abroad that the board was out to make as much money as it could, but that was far from the thoughts of members. Ho went on to speak of the debt the community owed to the hon. medical staff, which carried out its duties in a most able manner. The public of Dunedin was under a deep debt of gratitude to the hon. medica-I staff. Speaking of the secondary hospital at Pine Hill for consumptives, he said the board had £I2OO in hand, and it hoped with what it received from the association’s collection that it would bo enabled to make a start with the building.

Dr Rilev expressed his gratification at the prospects of getting assistance from the association to provide for cases of consumption He mentioned that in 1910 there had been 700 deaths in New Zealand from this disease, and about the same number in the following year, and that 500 of those who had died were between the ages of 15 and 40 years—a period when the individual was at his best and most valuable to the State. Such a loss to the community was very groat. With regard to the prevention of the disease ho must confess that lie did not think enough was being done. It was much better to prevent a disease than to cure it, and there were two points in this connection that presented themselves to his mind. The first was the inspection of milk. A largo number of analyses had been made recently in London, and it was shown that in one case out of 10 the milk contained tubercular bacilli. If that obtained in London it was quite possible that there might bo something of the sort in Dunedin. It had been shown in Now Zealand that pigs’ food—skim milk —developed tuberculosis, and that it it was'sterilised or pasteurised the tuberculosis ceased. The milk lost some of its qualities by the process, but even so it would be better to have them diminished. Much might be done by the Government in the inspection of milk and of herds. He recommended the Health Department, if it could be got to move, to do something more in the inspection of- milk. Another point was as to the phthisical stage in children. . Our schools were notoriously overcrowded, and the weakly and robust were herded together, and underwent the same course of educational treatment. In the same way in which the sheep farmers eulled the weakly lambs and gave them special attention, so our weakly children should be systematically culled from the schools. They should be placed under conditions favourable to their physical development. The hours of teaching should be limited. Teaching should be carried on mainly in the open air in a sunny, sheltered spot. Physical exorcises should play a larger part than in the ordinary course of school instruction. A special school for weakly children could bo established at Anderson’s Bay or Warrington. and the children could be placed in small cottage homes, presided over by the sisters of the churches, and allowed to visit their parents from Saturday to Monday. If systematic culling were carried out on those Lines there would be a smaller proportion of weakly, ill-developed children, who were likely to become a burden to their relatives or the State. Such a course was so obvious that one wondered why the various education boards had not faced the question. It was usual to appeal to the Government, and ho would suggest that the Education Board should take the bull by the hofns, and become the pioneer in this. As to curative treatment, this consisted in having a dispensary, an observation ward for doubtful cases, a ward for advanced cases, a sanatoiiurn, a farming colony, and provision for following up patients after they had left. At present the balconies at the' Hospital were filled with tubercular patients, so that convalescents who had just passed through an operation had no opportunity to recover as they should have. The balconies should bo reserved for such cases. Dr Burnett said Dr Riley had painted a somewhat gloomy picture of the ravages of tuberculosis, and had shewn how necessary a vigorous campaign was. But there was a very satisfactory feature about this subject of' tuberculosis which he thought made it all the more desirable that a contribution from the association should be made for this particular object. Although tuberculosis was such a serious affection, it was getting more and more under control every year. Ever since it was known what

it was, we bad known more and more about the nature of the disease, and the exact causes of it, and when they knew that they were in a position to fight it. He felt satisfied that at no distant time we would have tuberculosis under full control, and that it would become one of the rare affections. He proceeded to show that within five years—from 1908 to 1912, when the cases were respectively 839 and 716—there had been a decrease of 123 oases. The milk supply was a matter for the authorities. He had made no investigations himself into that question. He thought an examination of the Dunedin milk would show that it was in-a very high state of purity, as far as bacilli were concerned. Perhaps in country districts, where the cows were not so rigidly inspected, the standard was not so The annual report was then adopted. ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS. Mr G. C. Israel was re-elected president, Miss J. Hooper and Mr W. L. Logie vice-presidents, Mr J. C. M‘George hon. genera-l secretary, Mr R. Martin hon. treasurer, Mr H. D. Bedford hon. solicitor, Mr Ohas. Grater hon. auditor, and the Mayor (Mr W. Downio Stewart), Messrs J. E. Bone, R. W. Rutherford, W. T. M'Farlane, F. G. Gumming, C. Speight, Dr Will, the Rev. R. E. Davies, the Rev. Vincent King, Mesdiamcs John Loudon, J. C. M'George, J. B. Oallan, Mies Stewart, and Dr Colquhoun Executive Committee. MOTIONS. On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Mr S. B. Macdonald, it was resolved that, on a £IOOO basis, the allocations for next collection bo a<s follows: —Hospital, £500; St. John Ambulance Association. £215; Karitane-Harris Hospital, £145. convalescent fund. £45 : Patients and P n6 °" Here’ Aid Sociotv, £7O ; and the Dental School. £25. A vote of thanks to the office-bearers, moved by Mr J. 11. Walker, concluded the meeting.