BACKBLOCK NURSES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 107, 28 June 1911, Page 6

BACKBLOCK NURSES.

LADY ISLINGTON MAKES - AN APPEAL. (Per Press Association ) Wellington, June 27. “A. very pressing necessity of this country is nurses for the backblocks,” declared Lady Islington at the annual meeting of the St. John Ambulance Association last night. Her Excellency made a very telling appeal on behalf of this object. It was, she said, imperative to have a system of supplying .nurses from the hospitals who co nhl’ r gi ve attention to people in the remote districts. Schemes wore in existence, plans would be matured at an early date, and she able to go over tracks, if not in’ some day be a chain of cottages all over New Zealand where nurses would i)S easily accessible by telephones and oyer to go over tracks, if' not by roads, to the assistance of those in need of skilled attention. It'tVas sad to read of men who,' through the necessity of undertaking rough journeys, greatly prejudiced their chances of recovery- front utiidfchilv and she quoted one pitiful instance of a settler’s child dying through exposure as a result of being carried) a’ammbcr of miles by its father to the nearest hospital where treatment could ho given for an illness whichtturned out to ho diphtheria. If there had been a nurse available to look after tho child in its own home that sad end might have been prevented. It was our boundon duty to help tiiose brave people, the pillars of our 'Empire, who by . the sweat of their brow had • cultivated nature to produce the country’s wealth. Lady* Islington apologised for referring at some length to the matter at an ambulance gathering, hut she felt she must speak of hack-block nurses in and out. of season because the subject was so close to her heart. She had been struck with tho tremendous puhliccpiritedncss which prevailed in Now Zealand, and she hoped to enjoy enough strength and health to help in every cause which had for its object- the well-being of her fellow-crea-tures. ,r