SACRIFICE NEEDED

Taranaki Daily News, 19 March 1941, Page 10

SACRIFICE NEEDED

TRAINEES FOR V.A.D. "Many New Zealand girls take it for granted that the young men the flower of our nation shall go to fight for them, but they themselves are not prepared to make any sacrifice of their ordinary comforts and pleasures in order to be ready to assist in the national effort, stated Miss E. P. Tennent, • hon. director of the V.A.D. of the Red Cross, addressing a meeting of the Hawera Red Cross sub-centre. At the request of the Dominion council Miss Tennent is visiting all centres in the Dominion to discuss the revised regulations for training and the organisation of detachments. The tour was considered necessary in view of the greatly increased activity of the V.A.D. since the outbreak of the war. After a brief review of the origin and work of the Red Cross, Miss Tennent dealt with the V.A.D. movement as it affected New Zealand. The purpose of training was twofold, in that it aimed to provide women with the ability to. nurse the sick in their homes, and to prepare them for national emergency, such as earthquake or the outbreak of epidemic, which usually followed major wars. Mentioning the lesson of the Napier earthquake disaster, ' Miss Tennent stressed the need for preparation and deplored the fact that so many young women had failed to grasp the necessity to equip themselves with knowledge which would be of great benefit to them in the ordinary course of their lives. Calls would be made upon the V.A.D. to provide assistance in military hospitals throughout the country very soon, and for this purpose only V.A.D.'s with excellent qualifications would be chosen. The importance of hospital training was stressed, for, in the case of sudden emergency, aids might be called upon at a fnoment's notice to fit themselves into the routine of the hospital ward. Miss Tennent described the branch of service which trained women in the art of cooking for large numbers under varied conditions. An important aspeci of training was that dealing with infectious diseases which are nursed in the home it was stated and the prevention of the spread of infection- was a subject which could not be too deeply studied. Miss Tennent described the first try-out of the Emergency Precautions Scheme at Wellington three weeks ago when the work of the V.A.D. was utilised and its importance demonstrated. On the motion of Miss Dorris Bryant, president of the sub-centre, Miss Tennent, who replied to questions on various problems at the conclusion of her address, was accorded a vote of thanks. •Mrs. J. Guy (Kaponga), president of South Taranaki centre, expressed appreciation of Ihe work of Miss Tennent and endorsed her plea for a • fuller realisjat.ion of the situation by young women of the district.