PLUNKET SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 50

PLUNKET SOCIETY.

ANNUAL REPORT. A YEAR OF PROGRESS. The annual report of the Central Council of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children states, inter alia: The work of the society has steadily pro gressed during the year, and the statistics shown an increase in the figures in all classes of work. There has been a decided increase in the number of visits paid to homes by the Plunket nurses and, more particularly, in the number of mothers and babies who have visited the Plunket rooms. At March 31 1926, the Plunket nursing staff (exclusive of relieving nurses and nurses employed on the Karitane Hospitals staffs) numbered 98, an increase of four upon the number engaged in district work at March 31 of the previous year. New residential branches were established at Feilding, Greymouth, and Upper Hutt, and a second nurse was appointed to the Oamaru branch. The Temuka-Geraldine branch which, until March 31, 1925, had employed two resident Plunket nurses, decided that it would be more advantageous to mothers in the South Canterbury district if separate centres were formed at Temuka and at Geraldine with a nurse resident in each place. The new arrange mont took effect from April 1. 1925. Ap plications have been received for resident nurses for Waipawa, Levin, LytteUon, Taradalo, and Heriot-Lawrenpe-Tapanui districts, while the Auckland, Wellington, Masterton, Gisborne. Blenheim, and VVaimate branches are increasing tneir Plunket nursing staffs as soon as suitable nurses can be supplied. THE SOCIETY’S RECORDS. The summary of figures, as borne out by the Plunket nurses’ case records for the. year ended March 31, 1926, shows that there has been a decided increase in the volume of work done during that period by the Plunket nurses throughout the Dominion. The fact clone that there were 41,217 more visits of mothers and babies to the Plunket rooms this year than last year speaks for itself. The total number of babies on the nurses’ books was 41,655, of whom 13,819 were new cases and, of these new cases, 11,393 were either wholly or partially breast-fed. The number of visits paid to homes by the Plunket nurse? was 155,983, while the number of visits of mothers and babies to the Plunket rooms in the various centres and out-stations totalled 371,560. It must bo clearly understood that, besides the mothors and babies who come into direct contact with the Plunket nurses, a large proportion of the society’s service to mother and child is carried out by members of the various branches and aUo by mothers who, homing received benefit tnon)sclvo.H, are only too glad to help thoir friends and neighbours.

In the following table the statistics for tho years 1924-25 and 1925-26 are compared : 1924-5 1925-6 Increase Babies un<Vir Plunket nurses during the year 37,808 41,655 3,847 Visits paid by Plunket nurses to homes 147,151 156,983 8,832 Visits of mothers and babies to Plunket rooms 330,343 371,560 41,217 Number of babies breast-fed (new cases) 11,094 11,393 299 The proportion of the new cases of babies who, under the supervision of the Plunket nurses, have been nurtured in the natural way has been more than maintained. Of the 13,819 new cases for the year ended March 31, 1926, 81.72 per cent, were either wholly or partially breast-fed. Though these figures appear at first glance to be slightly below the corresponding figures for the previous year (82.25), they in reality show an increase, for, in comparing the statistics, it must be noted that increased attention has been given of late to the dieting of older children, and in summarising the new cases no differentiation has been made between those babies who were under nine months of age when first seen by a Plunket Nurse and those who were beyond what is usually regarded as the infancy stage. Although the Plunket Society consistently advocates natural feeding, there are unfortunately circumstances in which artificial feeding is a necessity. From time to time, adverse critics question whether the course of artificial feeding advocated by our society provides the best substitute for natural feeding. The results of a careful investigation made into the accurate records of 300 babies who were fed entirely on humanised milk, under the Plunket nurses’ supervision, from within the first month of life, set at rest all doubts on this score. In supplying these records, the nurses, almost without exception, remarked on the rarity now-a-days of babies fed entirely artificially from within the first month of life and onwards. The results as shown by the records supplied could scarcely have been more satisfactory. MORTALITY STATISTICS. The average “Total Infantile Deathrate" for the Dominion for the past year has been 39.9 per thousand births' (practically 4 per cent.—the same as last year). 'ihe rates for the lour main centres were‘-—Auckland, 5.1 per cent.; Wellington, 3.5 per cent.; Christchurch, 4.7 per cent.; Dunedin. 3.3 per cent. The average number of deaths of infants under one month during the year 1925 was 26.43 per 1000 births for tho Dominion. The statistics for the year 1925 show that a further reduction of deaths from infantile diarrhoea and enteritis has taken place all over New Zealand. The figures furnished by the Government Statistician show' that the average maternal mortality in New Zealand last year was 4.65 per 1000 births. The maternity mortality per 1000 births for each of the four main centres was: — Auckland* 4.35; Wellington, 4.75; Christchurch, 4.19; Dunedin, 1.46. SOCIETY’S INSTITUTIONS. Consequent upon the additional accommodation for nurses which the new hostel in course of erection will provide, it has been necessary to make extensive alterations and additions to the dining room and kitchen accommodation in the main building of the Karitane-Harris Hospital, Dunedin. The lecture hall, adjacent to the new hostel, which it is anticipated will be completed in the course of a few months, will greatly assist the work of the teaching staff. The mo 'hercraft branch of the work has been extended by the erection of a charming aud up-to-date cottage for mothers, in connection with the Karitane Hospital in Christchurch, which w r as opened in February last. The Wanganui branch has acquired a property adjoining the Karitane-Stewart Hospital, wllich is to be converted in the near future into a cottage for mothers. A new model Karitane Hospital is now in course of erection at Mount Melrose, Wellington, at a cost of £16,300 (irrespective of equipment and furnishing). The Karitane Hospital and Mothercraft Home in Auckland continues to do excellent work, and the fact that it has been found necessary to provide increased accommodation for trainees shows that its activities are extending. The Invercargill branch is calling for tenders for alterations to “Bainfield,” the property given by Mr W, D. Hunt, and it is hoped that in the course of a few months a Karitane hospital and mothercraft home will have been established in Invercargill. EXTENSION OF THE WORK OVERSEAS. During the-period of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition Dunedin was favoured by an unprecedented influx of visitors to the city, and it was a subject of remark that so many visitors from overseas who called at the society’s, stand at the Exhibition already had more than a mere superficial knowledge of the Plunket Society and of Sir Truby King’s work. •Infant welfare work, established on the lines of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, continues to progress in England, Palestine, South Africa, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, and Launceston. As an outcome of Dr Roberta Jull’s visit to New Zealand to gain first-hand information as to the methods adopted by the society, an infant welfare centre has now been established in Western Australia. FINANCE. The total expenditure of all branches for tho year ended March 31, 1926, was £70,356 Os lOd. This amount includes the cost, of running the Karitana hospitals at Dunedin, Christchurch, Wanganui, and Auckland, the Plunket Mothercraft Home at Wellington, and also the head office expenses and propaganda work. DUNEDIN BRANCH. The following is the annual report of the Dunedin branch:— In presenting the 19th annual report, the society records n very full and strenuous year. The work of the branch has been particularly successful, notwithstanding the fact that the holding of the New Zealand and Uouth Seas Exhibition In Dunedin made heavy additional inroads upon the time and energies of all those responsible for carrying on the 1 society's work. In December, 1025, the largest general con-

ference of the society ever held in Dunedin took place. The year just closed has been an eventful one, too, in the history of the Dunedin branch, in that it has seen the commencement and practically the completion of the fine new adjunct to the Kari-tane-Harris Hospital. By the lamented death of Mr Wolf Harris the society has lost one of its earliest and most generous supporters. His munificent gift in 1910 of the house and grounds at Anderson’s Bay, known as the KaritaneHarris Hospital, was the first evidence of his sympathy with the movement, then in its infancy, and marked the turning point in the history of the society. Had he done nothing more than yresent the society with the hospital and grounds he >vould have conferred a priceless boon on the Dominion, but by repeatedly coming to the society’s assistance financially, when it was most in need of funds, to enable necessary extensions and improvements to be made, he has done more than w r e can express towards placing New Zealand in general, and Dundin in particular, in the highest position in the world as regards child welfare: “We regret to have to record the death of Mrs A. M. Jackson, who for many years was a member of the committee of the Dunedin branch. An earnest and devoted social worker, she was able to spread the society's teachings among a very large section of the community.” It is gratifying to be able to record that in Dunedin, the birthplace of the Plunket Society, the infantile mortality and the maternal mortality rates for the year 1925 were the lowest of the four main cities. The infantile death rate was 3.35 .|>r cent, (practically the same as for the year 1925). The maternal mortality rate was 1.46 per 1000 births —less than one-third of the average rate for the Dominion.