N.Z. Military Hospitals in England and France

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume X, Issue 4, 1 October 1917, Page 203

N.Z. Military Hospitals in England and France

We hear that recently all orderlies have been sent away from the wards m our hospitals, and have been replaced by women. This is as it should be, and will, of course, make the hospitals more like civil ones. The V.A.D.'s, who by the bye, are not entirely voluntary helpers as they receive a salary more than equal to that given to nurses m their first year of training, taking the place of probationers. The matrons and nurses find the change quite satisfactory, as one matron remarks : "It teems strange to have women doing farming and carpentering, and men doing the work that is so much more efficiently done by the women m civil life." So many women are going to France now, that it is difficult to meet the needs of our hospitals ; for not only are the women needed m the wards, but as cooks, women dispensers, clerks, transport drivers, for work m the nurses homes of which there are five connected with Walton alone. These are staffed with a housekeeper and a housemaid, mostly New Zealanders. The homes are scattered m the village within a radius of about one and a half miles. Accommodation is a somewhat difficult problem, so the nurses are rather crowded, but quite comfortable , and f ar more so than they were m Egypt. Iverwood, the new nurses' home at Walton, is a charming spot. The house is so comfortably furnished, and the garden is so lovely. We have a sweet little bit of pine wood. We are two miles from hospital, and really m Weybridge. The sisters are taken backwards and forwards by ambulance, but some had bicycles and cycle up and down m perference. The auxiliary hospital to Walton, Oaklands Park, is one and a quarter miles away. It looks very beautiful, the park is full of old trees, and is very picturesque, and is a sunny site. Sister Chalmers manages here, and the boys are very happy. The matron writes : ' War economy is now a hospital art, and I do not think a crust or crumb is wasted here. Every scrap is put through a mincer and converted into some kind of a pie. Each ward kitchen is fitted with a small gas stove, and the V.A.D's on kitchen duty take great in-

terest m concocting some kind of a pie or dish for their patients' tea. The cooking is, of course, done m the big main kitchen (where a New Zealand lady has for two or more years cooked with a few assistants for this big hospital), but hot dishes for tea are not supplied." Devonshire House is the headquarters of the committee for supplying hospitals with helpers during the war, and the matron adds that she has had several employed, and they had been most satisfactory, but unfortunately their stock had run down, as naturally everybody wants to go to Fiance, and hundreds of splendid women have gone there. So that getting a probationer from Devonshire House was now rather a lottery, and there are many disappointments. Miss Wilson wishes that they were not so far away, so that it might have been possible to get some of our own women for the next great push. However, by the time they could arrive the emergency would be over. At the time of writing, Walton Hospital was to be extended to 1600 beds, Many of these are m hutments, which are considered rather wonderful and much admired by professional visitors, for apart from their pretty aspect, they are very serviceably built and have every convenience. At the conclusion of the letter from which these notes are taken the matron adds : 'We are now exceedingly busy, tents everywhere. Yesterday we had a convoy of 172 patients straight over from France at 3 a.m., so had to have some of the day staff called. Six of us went to the station and stayed till 4 a.m. giving drinks, etc. The men looked so strange with unshaven faces, but I am glad to say not very seriously wounded with the exception of a few." The New Zealand Hospital for officers at Brighton seems a popular place. Forty can be taken m all, and the matron says quite a lot of entertaining has been done. The residents make calls on the officers, whicfy have to be returned by the sisters. Miss Brooke is m charge, and Sister Brandon is her second-in-command. At one house all the staff of V.A.D's are New Zealanders.

Mrs. Inwood, Misses Lutter and Middleton, Mrs. Page, and Mrs. Shepherd, Mis. Welsey, A group having tea m the garden look very happy.

A visit to the New Zealand Hospital at Walton-on-Thames was recently made by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught (states a London correspondent). Colonel T. Mill, N.Z.M.C., and his staff received the visitor and those present included Colonel Parkes and Miss Thurston, who had travelled from London. The Duke was shown over Mount Felix and the hutments, and he stopped at intervals to chat with the patients. He displayed great interest m the work which is being done for jaw cases. The beauty of the hospital surroundings charmed him, and he remarked that such conditions should surely tend to help the sufferers to recovery. At Oatlands Park the Duke of Connaught was impressed with the revolving shelters, of which there are now a number. The utilisation of hitherto

unused patches of ground for the growing of vegetables did not escape his attention. After seeing Oatlands the party returned to Mount Felix, where the visitors' book was signed.

The No. 1 N. Z. Stationary Hospital m France has now been increased to 1,040 beds. The Matron m Charge of the Expeditionary Force had been over on a short visit of inspection and found that the Hobpital and the Nurses' Home was m every way better than the one vacated at Armiens. It is now so much nearer the line that many more of the New Zealand wounded can be taken m. The house used as a Nurses' Home is an old residence, and can accommodate a staff of 43. It has a very nice garden and lawn at the back which is a great boon to the nurses when off duty. Their food and cooking is good and they are now collecting quite a number of little extra things for their comfort m the Home.