CARE OF THE AGED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 16, 14 April 1947, Page 5

CARE OF THE AGED

OLD PEOPLE'S HOME SUGGESTION FOR WHAiKATANE A constructive suggestion which should find widespread support was put forward by Mr H. C. McCready at the meeting of the Whakatane Hospital Board last Thursday, and found full support from Board members. This was for the establishment of an old people's home in the district to relieve the number of occupied beds in the hospital, and which he contended should have been built years ago.

The Hospital Boards in the Bay of Plenty, he considered, should make a combined effort to found a suitable institution which would house the indigent old people who at present had no other place to go to other than the hospitals. Such a place would relieve the nursing staffs of permanently occupied beds, which could be utilised for outside cases.

The secretary (Mr F. Prideaux) reminded the Board that Tauranga some time ago had approached it with a view to combining in just such an effort, but Whakatane had not then been interested. Since then Tauranga had founded its own home for the aged, and was not likely to contribute to Whakatane's proposal. Mr Mc Gougan warmly agreed with the scheme. The hospital was no place for such cases, and was not to be compared with a special institution where the aged were cared for and given comfortable and homely surroundings. Mr McCready said that he did not favour going far from the district, as most of those concerned had lived here for years and had grown fond of their surroundings. If Opotiki and Whakatane would combine they would be providing some genuine social security.

Mr Caulfield considered such a move long overdue and by taking elderly invalids from the hospitals to better suited institutions ,the Board would save public money in the long run. "I don't know why it is," said Dr. Dawson when asked for an opinion by the chairman, "but this'. district seems to have a particularly large number of men who live alone. Everywhere you go you see whares and baches where elderly men live. It is alright while they have their health, but when that fails there's only one place—the hospital." Four such cases would be suitable for a Home as envisiaged. Mr McCready: Some of them live under conditions which are appalling, and from which they should be taken. The chairman said that now the matter had been ventilated the public would be asked to co-operate with members in an endeavour to find a suitable building. They were all agreed that it was most desirable, but to try and build a new place at the present time would be simply out of the question. Mr McCready: If we approach it in that light we'll never get anywhere. We would be building it to relieve pressure on the hospital and I consider we have a priority case.

On his motion it was decided to write to the Opotiki Board to ascertain whether or not it was interested in the scheme.