The Matrons-in-Chief at the Lyceum

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume X, Issue 4, 1 October 1917, Page 206

The M at rons-in- Chief at the Lyceum

British Journal of Nursing, July 28, 1917.

A very successful dinner convened by the Women's Medical Service was given at the Lyceum Club, 128 Piccadilly, W., on Monday, July 23rd, when the Matrons-in-Chief of the Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Army Nursing Services, upon whom, on the proposition of Mrs Bedford Fenwick, chairman of the executive committee, the Hon. Membership of the Club has been conferred — were the guests of honour. Dr. Florence Stoney, of the Fulham Military Hospital, presided, and gave a very interesting account of her work from the outbreak of war. She humorously described the difficulty she and her colleagues had m obtaining work m this country, and how, after being informed by Sir Frederick Treves that " radiography never was and never would be any use m warfare," she and her colleagues went to France and Belgium to prove that the care of the sick m all its branches can be successfully undertaken by women. She very much resented the fact that British medical women had not got army rank, whereas any medical man took his place m the nations Army, and was given the rank which was his due. In the absence of Surgeon-General Sir Neville Howse, X.C.8., V.C., Colonel Parkes of New Zealand, C.M.G., D.D.M.S., proposed the toast of the 'Women's Medical Service," and said what a revelation it had been to the whole world to at last realise ' ' the great capacity of women." He hoped when the honours were distributed to women, those who had taken part m the war nursing and medical work would be very highly rewarded. "The Nursing Service " was proposed by Colonel Adams, D.D.M.S., Canada, who took up vigorous defence of the V.A.D.s and deplored the amount of " charing they had to do," to which Miss Macdonald, R.R.C., Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Nursing Service, very wittily replied, "As

we employ no V.A.D.s," she said, :e we are fully qualified to hope they will have all the recognition they deserve when war is over. She was glad the V.A.D.s had such powerful champions as Colonel Adams, and surmised that he and their other supporters would take them into their own homes and place all the confidence m them that they would place m a fully-trained nurse." Replying also to the Colonel's demand for exemption from " charing " for nurses, Miss Macdonald said that anyone who was not " capable of charing " had no business m a hospital. Miss Thurston, R.R.C., stated how willingly New Zealand had come to help the Mother Country, and that all the nurses of their Service were not only fully qualified, but State Registered. Miss Conyers, R.R.C., gave similar testimony as to nursing qualifications for Australia. The system of registration m Australia has not yet got the imprimatur of the State. " Our latest Ally " was proposed by Mrs. Parker, sister of the late Lord Kitchener . and responded to by Captain Rogers, A.L.O; (America). A very distinguished company of medical and nursing representatives were present, including Miss Mary Henderson, an organiser of the Scottish Women's Hospitals who has just returned from Russia ; and Miss Grace Ellison, the founder of the French Flag Nursing Corps, who has just returned from France. Owing to their absence on duty at the front, Mrs. Creagh, R.R.C., Matron-in-Chief, South African Nursing Service ; and Miss E. V. Hasson—Matron-in-Chief of the Nursing Units of the United States Army — were unable to be present, much to the regret of their colleagues. Mrs. Bedford Fenwick deeply regretted her unavoidable absence upon so memorable an occasion.