PLUNKET WORK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 407, 16 July 1928, Page 11

PLUNKET WORK

GROWTH OF ACTIVITIES I THE YEAR’S OPERATIONS The annual report of the Koyal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society), which will be presented at the annual meeting in the Lyceum Club on Thursday, shows splendid progress for the year. In the city and suburban areas a chain of 17 sub-centres is now operating and the district nurses number 13. A comparison with the results shown in 1915 reveals phenomenal progress. In 1915 visits of mothers and babies to the society’s rooms totalled 2.106, compared with 90,329 last year. New baby cases number 375, compared with 2,383 attended during 1927. Last year 15,465 visits were made by nurses and 1,132 women visited the pre-natal clinic. In 1915 the society occupied one small room in the Strand Arcade and two nurses were engaged in the work, while to-day the society possesses a nine-roomed house standing in fine grounds providing spacious, wellequipped rooms for all branches of its The work of the out-stations has been satisfactorily advanced during - the year. A new office had been opened in St. Michael’s Hall, Belmont, members of the Waitemata Women’s Progressive League canvassing the district for funds. At the close of the year a sub-committee had been set up at Papatoetoe to equip a new office in the district. A committee was also formed at Takapuna with the same object. The thanks of the committee are conveyed to the trustees of the Auckland Savings Bank for a donation of £2,000, to Sir Truby King for a contribution of £2OO toward reducing the mortgage on the headquarters building, and to Mrs. McLachlan for £IOO for the same purpose. The Plunket nurses’ report states that a very substantial increase in all the branches of the work has been experienced. The new headquarters building had proved of great benefit, but the day was not far distant when the addition of a suitable room for test feeding would be required. The chief feature of the year’s work had been the taking over of the supervision of the ante-natal clinic in October from the Health Department. During the year visits to this clinic had doubled. The balance-sheet shows that receipts during the year totalled £7,570, the chief items being Government grants £1,593, donations and proceeds from entertainments £3,900, and sales of the society’s preparations £1,037. Expenditure during the year was nurses’ salaries £2,894, reduction of mortgage on headquarters property £2,000, and overdraft at bank £2Bl. The overdraft has been converted during the year into a credit balance of £460. The district work of the society is summarised in the report as follows: Visits of adults to headquarters and sub-centres, 44,578; of infants, 39,151; of older children, 6,600; total, 90,329. Visits paid to homes by nurses, 15,465. New baby cases, 2,270. Visits paid to pre-natal clinic, 1,132. Mothers admitted to the cottage, 90; babies admitted to the hospital, 182.