NURSES' NEW HOME

Otago Witness, Issue 3249, 21 June 1916, Page 9

NURSES' NEW HOME

OFFICIAL OPENING. The formal opening - ceremonial in connection with the opening of ilie nurses' new homo in Cumberland street too];: place on .Saturday aiternoon. The ceremony was performed by the- Hon. G. YV. Kussell m his capacity of Minister in Charge of Hospitals, and was attended by a very largo number of ladies and gentlemen, ladies being very much in the preponderance. The construction of the building- has occupied neatly two years. and it is undoubtedly an imposing and up-to-date place. The cost was: Ground, £9165; foundations, £1462; building, £15.967; fencing, £313; pathways, £150; ami furnishings, £906. At 2.30 p.m. the Chairman of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board (Mr J. H. Walker), in a very few words, presented the Hon. Mr Russell with a gold key with which to open the door, the key being the gift of the architects (Messrs Mason and Wales). The Minister acknowledged the gift in a sentence or two, and, opening the door of the institution, invited those assembled to follow him inside the building to the dining room, where the function was to take place. The proceedings were opened with the singing of a verso of the National Anthem. The Chairman of the board said that, during the last three years, affairs in connection wish the Dunedin Hospital as to arrangements for nursing had been very dislocated. They had had in Hospital 85 nurses, with accommodation for only 53. and a decision had been come to three or four years ago to go outside and purchase a property so that extra, nurses could be accommodated. The buildina contained between 130 and 140 rooms, and he did not think anyone would say that there had been extravagant expenditure. It had to be remembered that most of the girls had no home in Dunedin. having come from other districts, and this institution was their only home. He mentioned that the building had been designed by Messrs Mason and Wales, and erected by Messrs Fletcher Bros. The Minister, in the course of his address, paid that requests for the nationalisation of the hospital service were now being made throughout the Dominion. He was watching the development of this proposal, which appeared to arise out of the- heavy levies that were being called for by the enlargement of trie functions of hospital boards. The hon. gentleman went on to give »me interesting information in essence. The hospital and charitable aid expenditure in 190506 was £270.000; in 1910-11. £416.000; in 1914-15, £578,000. The cost per head of population had risen from 6s 2d in 1905-G6 to 10s 6?d in 1014-15. The number of persons under treatment in hospitals in 1905-6 was 16.000; in 1913-14, 31.C00." The revenue of hospital boards for 1914 was as follows: From "the Government, £217 000; levies on local bodies. £189.000; voluntary contributions, £25.000: payment for treatment received, £9o,ooo;—a total of £521.000. Mr Russell said he was pleased to see the steady increase in the amount received for treatment given. Ho considered it the duty of the boards in every case, where possible, to insist on adcriiiat.fi payment by those who obtained relief at the institutions.—(Applause.) He regretted to notice a steady decline in the amount given by voluntary contributions to the hospitals throughout the country. As the organisation of our hospital system was proceeding there was more and more tendency to throw the whole of the responsibility on the Stale on the one- hand, and on the h.eal bodies on the oilier. The day For organisation work to provide voluntary assistance for our hospitals appeared unfortunately to have passed away. He honed the time was nor far distant when hospital guilds would he established throughout New Zealand for the purpose of supplementing the funds of the hospital hoards, and' enabling them to undertake still more work of a scientific character.-

(Applause.) Medical science had largely changed during the last 20 years. The day of tho practitioner whoso .solo moans of curing consisted of a bottle of medicine and a. hand-saw had for ever gone by. Bacteriology, analysis, auto-suggestion, massage, and, above all, the open-air treatment of all forms of wounds and diseases were giving a higher tone to medicine as a science. The expenditure must increase p.? efficiency became greater, but the benefit was worth the price. The health of the people was the greatest asset of the nation. - (Applause.) As a country we had proved this in the war. When General Henderson saw his first march-past of tho New Zealanders he remarked: "Cod help the Germans, if this crowd make a charge." That

was how the appearance of our lads impressed the general.—(Applause.) As ho had -said, the average annual cost per head in the hospital was £lO6. He wished to pay a tribute to the Ota go Hospital Board. For 1914-15 the cost nor head at Christchurch was £lO7, at Auckland £lO5, at Wellington £lO4, at Duneclin £93. Tie esteemed it an honour to have amongst his many responsibilities the control of _ the Public Health Department. He could indicate some of the lines of future policy in connection therewith. The medical inspection of schools should be linked up with the Public Health Department, so that children who neededi it could obtain _ medical treatment, especially in cases of incipient tuberculosis and similar diseases. —(Applause.) ho proposed to start this year with the establishing of a system of dental inspection at the schools. This would be taken up tentatively at first. In this connection he wished to refer in thankful terms to the work of Professor Pickerill and ?hc help of the Otago University, and ho ako acknowledged the assistance of Mr Sidey. M.P., to whose efforts the establishment of the Dental School was due. (Applause.) Ho intended also to inaugurate research work in connection with cancel' and infantile paralysis.-—(Applause.) Nurse Bevilnqua. from Australia, was now giving demonstrations in connection with infantile paralysis. She had visited Auckland and Wellington, was now in Christehurch, and would shortly arrive in Dunedin to give demonstrations in massage, etc., as applied to that disease, Mr Russell said that another subject, to bo taken up was the stricter control of the Maori population, with a view to hvsonmg enteric and other

diseases in order to s'>ve tho Maori race. A conference of Maori monitor's of Parliament Would be held to advise what was praofcieublc on thia matter. The other item in his programme was to deal with the tremen-dously-important of social diseases. Regulations would be issued under the

War Regulations Act giving enlarged powers to the Health Department, and tiie recommendations ol the, itoyal Commission at Home would, as tar as possible, be adopted. —(Applause.) The Minister then mute special reterence to our brave nurses. New Zealand had sent 651 to the war. In this connection tie. congratulated the recipients of birthday honours; iNurse Cameron, matron of St. Helens Hospital in Christchurch, and now- lying invalided in that city; Mies M'Lcan, matron in chief of the N.Z.A.N.0.; and Nurse Toinbe, formerly of Dunedin, now in charge of the hospital at Walton-on-Thames. Iter place was to be taken by Miss Thurston, matron of the Christchurch Hospital. Tho Minister congratulated Dr Valintine on the lino results achieved under the scheme inaugurated by him for the establishment of a State nursing service; also on the diffusion of the nurses, especially maternity nurses, through the back blocks, provided ior by the training of nurses in our hospitals. It was the determination of the Government not to lower the standard of the training of our nurse.-.—(Applause.) As instances of the devotion of nurses m the back blocks, Mr Russell mentioned that in the Seddon district a nurse rode along the coast to aitou-l a confinement case at a lighthouse, at great risk; also that nurses attended in all typhoid and smallpox epidemics amongst the Maoris; further, that one nurse had controlled a camp of 26 typhoid cases.—(Applause.) The Minister next dea.lt with_ the district nursing scheme, and spoke of its importance, with special reference to maternity work, thus relieving general hospitals. He considered it specially desirable that hospitals should bo utilised still more as training grounds for nurses. He was prepared to consider the granting of a special subsidy in such cases. —(Applause.) In conclusion, Mr Russell said: '"I regard the development of the health service of the country as the most important in which any department can be engaged. Every assistance possible will be given to increase the number, and every means possible provided to assist and encourage young medical students who show special aptitude for hospital work. The time during war is not opportune for any large increase in expenditure, but I hope there -will be a steady development in the directions indicated."—(Applause.) The Chairman of the Board intimated that it had been anticipated that the tablet erected to the memory of Nurse Cavell, and placed in the hall, would have been unveiled by Mr Mark Cohen, but unfortunately that gentleman was not sufficiently well to leave his home, and the ceremony'Would be performed by the Mayor of the City (Mr J J". Clark). The Mayor very briefly referred to the high appreciation of everyone for the magni- I ficent work done by the women of the Em- I piro in this time of peril. Women were J now taking as fine and noble a part in help- I ing the Empire as any man was doiiicr. 'I hen- work was as noble, heroic, and beneficial as men's, and we had reason to be proud of the magnificent sacrifice and devotion of tho nurses. Speaking of Nurse Cavell. he said the blackest page in The history of Germany would be that relathuto the martyrdom of Nurse Cavell. Tim tablet ho was unveiling would servo a.s an inspiration to al] the nurses in the home and they, like Nurse Cavell, would set a" j high ideal of duty before them in respect to i the call or Empire a.id the call of humanity j Dr Vabiitmc (inspector-general of Hospi- ; als) was rerjuc-ted to speak, and in comply- j mg congratulated the board, the people, j and the nurses upon the magnificent build- i nig riiafc had just been opened. It was I said that some nurses who went into the ! country did not give the assistance in i household matters (hat the settler expected, | and that other muses gave. He did not ' suggest that nurses should milk cows, but ! when occasion arose lie did not think nurses j would expect to be waited upon, but would i assist in the household as far as they could. ! With regard to district-nursing, wo wanted j this pushed to the very utmost. Hospitals were just now congested, and if there was a good nursing scheme it would relieve the_ hospital beds. Instoady of keeping the I patient for a certain time he could be sent | out earlier, and the work carried on in the j home by the nurse. We would shortly j have back a great many more men from the front, and stress would arise as to hospital accommodation._ If we had a good system of district nursing assured, it would relieve our minds. Speaking of the Medical School, ho said ho did not believe the people of Otago realised what a magnificent school that was. hi some eases lie would sooner have boys from the Otago Medical School than any other boys lie knew of. Dr Lindo Ferguson (dean of the medical faculty) moved a sincere and hearty vote of thanks to the Minister for being present and opening the institution, the proposal hing received with and carried by loud ■ applause. j This completed tho function so far as j speaking was concerned, but many of those | present accepted the invitation to remain j for afternoon tea, and to listen to the playing of an orchestra organised by tho Bristol Piano Company.