Nurse Cameron

Te Ao Hou, December 1967, Page 41

Nurse Cameron Known throughout the East Coast and Rotorua areas as ‘Nurse’, Miss R. T. Cameron has become an almost legendary figure in her own lifetime. Retired from active nursing after many years of caring for the health and welfare of the mainly Maori communities on the East Coast, Miss Cameron still maintains an active interest in the welfare of the Maori women in her work as founder and president of the Women's Health League. Miss Cameron trained at the old Cook Hospital, Gisborne, and began her nursing career when she joined Queen Alexandra's Nursing Service, nursing in England, Egypt and Sinai throughout Allenby's campaign during the First World War, for five years. In 1920, she began district nursing on the East Coast, when all her visiting was done on horseback. Many Coast residents have interesting tales to tell of Nurse Cameron's adventures and indomitable spirit. That her work was appreciated was shown when she became the first district nurse to have a car. The vehicle was bought for her by the Maori people from Opotiki to Cape Runaway, and presented to the hospital board. Miss Cameron went later to Rotorua and then, as nurse inspector, to Hamilton. In 1947, after a period in Auckland, she was sent to Britain by the Labour Department to recruit suitable women as nurses and domestics. This was the period of severe rationing in England. On her return late in 1949, Miss Cameron retired from nursing, and has since devoted all her time to the affirs of the Women's Health League, which she founded in 1937. Miss Cameron has been awarded the M.B.E., and the Royal Red Cross for her services.