Free Midwifery Training

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume III, Issue 3, 1 July 1910, Page 117

Free Midwifery Training

Iii order to make some effort to supply the great need of well trained midwives in the country districts, the Government has offered two free scholarships each term in the St. Helens State Maternity Hospitals, for country women who cannot afford to come to town and pay the fees for training. It is found that, although a fairly large number (in this country) of midwives are being turned out yearly in these training schools, yet the country districts are not much better off ; the reason being that so much work offers in thc towns that the pupil nurses are offered engagements months ahead, even before they complete their training, so that even those girls who come from the country preier to remain in town. The free scholarships are being given to remedy this. A candidate must be recom-

mended by the Hospital Board of the district ; she must agree with the Board to work where she is most required in the district for at least two years. If she has her home in that part so much the better ; if not, at the end of two years, she is likely to be so established that she will remain there if she gets sufficient work to do. As in many parts midwifery work may be irregular, and cases not frequent enough to bring a sufficient income, the women who are best suited for these scholarships are the wives and daughters of farmers and other settlers, who will be able to attend the cases around them, but who are not entirely dependent on this work, The first pupil on this arrangement is shortly entering St. Helens Hospital, Auckland.