SHORTAGE OF NURSES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 289, 7 December 1939, Page 9

SHORTAGE OF NURSES

WANGANUI HOSPITAL APPEAL IV V.A.D, WORKERS. An appeal to members of the ValUntary Aid Division to offer their services as nurses at the Wanganui Public Hospital to relieve the present shortage, was made at a meeting of the Wanganui sub-centre of the Red Cross Society last night. There was an acute shortage of traine nurses in Wanganui, and throughout the Dominion, said the secretary, Mr. R. L. Garden. Moreover, it was not known how many of the nurses would be absorbed in military service To add to the seriousness of the position, he said, the number of inmates in the Wanganui Hospital was likely to increase, because of the army camp at Waiouru. According to regulations, a soldier likely to take more than four days to recover from ar. illness or injury must be taken to hospital. Minor cases at Waiouru would be dealt with in the Raetihi and raihape hospitals, but arrangements had been made for the Wanganui Hospital to take the remainder. Six member of the Voluntary Aid Division in Wanganui had alreadgiven service at the hospital, said Mr. Garden, but more were required. The appeal applied only to those who had passed one or more examinations, and the decision in regard to those accepted rested entirely with ths hospital authorities.