Hospital Board Matters

Ladies' Mirror, Volume V, Issue 6, 1 December 1926, Page 27

Hospital Board Matters

(By Ethel M. Kidd, Member Auckland Hospital Board.)

one sits down to write about Hospital Board matters it has to be confessed that we are dealing with some of the deepest things in life. For all down through the ages suffering and death have been hovering round the human race. Was it not nearly two thousand years ago that through the greatest suffering the Great Healer and Teacher suffered death, that the people might live and have life more abundantly? It was an important day in my life when at the close of the day for the last Hospital Board election I suddenly realised that, hundreds of people, most of whom could not have known me, voted and elected me a member of the board controlling our big institutions. With mixed feelings a few days after my election I visited, as a board member, my old training school where I, a young nurse, spent such happy days. Here it was I first learnt the true happiness of service, and now in the fuller years of life I find a fresh opportunity to serve the hospital I so love has been given me, and in this service pertaining to hospitals and charitable aid we immediately think of life, healing and love. Now the word love strikes us, for it is the greatest thing in the world. Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these three things is love.

Climbing the broad flight of stone steps and entering the hall once again lam greeted by the familiar memorial tablets erected to doctors and nurses who before my day gave their lives in the execution of their duty. Again their silent message comes for "They being dead yet speaketh." Now another much larger memorial with its long list of names adorns the wall; silently too it tells of the great traditions and further sacrifice of the medical and nursing start' of the Auckland Hospital given during the Great War. I am again in the wards with their rows of sick and suffering. The call of the helpless springs again within me. The patient suffering, the self sacrifice, the love, the skill, and all the virtues which make for the welfare of human kind on God's earth, are to be found here within these four walls.

I naturally wondered how I, the only woman member, would get on with the other eleven members of the board. However, very soon after my election I realised there was strenuous work for us all to do. I may just here mention that the fact of having won a contested election does make one feel the tremendous responsibility resting upon one's shoulders, but at the same time there is an added zest given to public life, after the public choice has been given and the people have spoken.

When the first board meeting is held after an election every member is allotted his or her seat and that is the place occupied at every board meeting during the term of office. It is well known that the present Mayor of Auckland, Mr. George Baildon. is one of the best types physically to be found in the city. He was a member of the hospital board when he decided to stand for the Mayoralty; he then retired from the board. It will interest my friends to know that it was the chair he occupied which was allotted

to me, but it is unnecessary to add that I do not "fill" it as well as he did.

All the members of the board are men of considerable experience. I am telling no secrets when I say that all men are over fifty years of age and many confess to thirty years of public life. Therefore it can easily be seen that they are not novices at public work.

Tn such large institutions as the main hospital with its 750 beds and the infirmary with 416 beds, as well as the convalescent home with a goodly number of beds, it is necessary that the different committees appointed after each election specialise in many departments of hospital administration. The finance committee is composed of members who are skilled in financial matters. The building committee is composed of practical men who would be valued by any body, who has to carry out such a large building programme as our board has carried out during recent years.

The fees committee has much hard work to perform, but thousands of pounds are written off annually and only those who can pay the fees or part of them are made to pay. This committee likewise is comprised of big-hearted men whose one idea must be to do the fair thing and not oppress anyone.

The purchasing committee has saved the board hundreds of pounds by its shrewd business acumen and

its members are chosen for their business ability. 'T'hen there are the two committees with which I am most closely associated, namely, the relief committee and the infirmary. The relief committee is recognised as one of the hardest worked committees of the board. Its duty is to look after the poor and needy in one large hospital district, which by the way comprises one fifth of the total population of the Dominion. The enormous amount of work may be judged from the fact that all through the past winter there has not

been a list of less than two hundred names dealt with at any meeting. Where it is possible the committee likes to interview the applicants for relief, and no meeting recently has sat for less than four hours at a stretch. All details of every case are carefully compiled by a thoroughly competent staff, A woman officer has recently been appointed to visit the homes, and where woman, applicants for relief so desire, they may interview one of their own sex regarding their wants. On this committee a keen insight is gained into life as it is lived in a big city and a great insight is also got into human nature. probably one of the saddest things in connection with this work’ is the number of young, and, in many cases, attractive women, who come before us with their little ones, having been deserted by their heartless husbands. Many of the children are bonny smiling little tots and no punishment would be too great for the wretch who leaves them with their poor mother to face a hard world. Quite a number of these deserted wives are on our books and are deeply grateful when they realise the kindly interest taken in their welfare. The young mother whose husband is in gaol is also another sad applicant, for she too suffers silently for another’s sin. The aged poor is a class, which always make a strong appeal to the sympathy of the members, who realise that in many cases they have not had much opportunity during a long life to save anything for old age. In the winter time it is a great pleasure to give a little coal to these old folk and know they can sit around a cosy fire in their own frugal homes, for many of them are still living in the city, being allowed to remain till the end of their days by generous landlords who continue to charge them the smallest rents. As the months pass ive see the old people failing, but as a rule they keep up a brave heart and are always cheerful and grateful for the help they receive. The aged single woman, who in her increasing years has become a little nervy and who finds she is now too old to compete in the struggle, is very often a solitary and lonely figure on the stage of life. This type of woman in the ordinary walks of life has never had much chance to amass wealth, and thus it is that in their old age tney nave to seek aid, which is freely given. For such their wants are few, although it is felt their lives are very lonely indeed when friend after friend has gone and they have outlived the earlier ones of their youth. The relief committee is composed of those who, while guardians of the public purse, must temper justness with kindness. The enormous sum of £20,000 was given in relief last year by the committee. What this means to distressed and old people as well as those whose breadwinner is in hospital, it is not hard to conjecture.

'J'he work carried on at the Infirmary at Epsom is some of the most humane relief conducted in the citv. It is here where the old Peo " ni. n f a. a-.*.- i j r - pie of the district arc cared for in their declining years. The mere fact that they are old forbids anything but kindness being shown to them 1 hen there are the Infirmary wards for both sexes who have become chrome invalids and need skilful nursing and medical attention. Ihere are the male and female T.B. shelters where a score or two of those stricken with this scourge make good progress on the volcanic soil oi me locality. Patients from twelve to seventy years of age are here sleeping in the open air shelters, all the year round. They are a cheery family making the best tncy can of life. Quite a number of them indulge in most interesting hobbies. The Medical Superintendent has the full confidence of those who occupy the large buildings, and the Lady Superintendent is much loved by the inmates. Special patience is needed when nursing those who are old and chronic patients, and it is truly de-

light to see the affection which a devoted nursing staff bestow upon those under their care. A „™ i deal has been written, but A Sood deal has been written, but -C\ T c . , , ~ . ' f , , find . l , have f ld } ltt ) e about , blg "| a ! n hospital , U ls such a ,a , r ? e , and humane subject and one which so deeply touches the heart that one is loathe to deal with it in co i d print. Who is there who has entered an hospital and not felt the compelling power of the brotherhood of man? Only those who have no hearts! We all have been sick at some time and thus we have known the joy of getting well again The function of the hospital is to heal broken bodies, to bring light to dimmed eyes, and to restore again to life those who are depressed, No expense is spared on equipment j„ the many special departments and no time is grudged by the resident medical and nursing staff, nor by the skilled surgeons and physicians who compose the honorary staff. We all are proud of our hospital. I have only touched upon the fringe of my subject, but I hope to have given a few thoughts worthy 0 f reflection.