REMINDERS OF NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2680, 28 January 1916, Page 3

REMINDERS OF NEW ZEALAND

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME. An interesting letter from Dr. Maguire, medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital, now on leave of absence, and acting as second in command, as Major Maguire, of the New Zealand General Hospital at-Pont de Koubbeh, Cairo, was read at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board, states an Auckland exchange.

Dr. Maguire stated:— I "Ws are now well equipped. ... I venture to say that there is no better equipped military hospital in Egypt at the present tiintj. The stream of extra equipment that is pouring steadily upon us from New Zealand makes our work easier, and heartens us for it by continually reminding us of what is being done, and so splendidly done, by the people in the dear homeland. The inestimable boon that such a hospital as this is to our sick and wounded boys can hardly be realised by people in New Zealand. Time and again I have heard expressions of gratitude and commendation towards the people of New Zealand from men sore stricken with wounds or illness. That a hospital staffed entirely by. New Zealanders should always have its doors open for their hero-boys appeals to these boys as nothing else could. They have a breath here of the homes they are fighting and suffering for, and tho tenderness with which they are treated by the staff is beyond all praise. Our staff of medical officers, nurses, and orderlies is a devoted one, and a noble example is set them by Colonel W. H. Parkes, the officer commanding. From the outset ho has never spared himself in trying to render his hospital as efficient as it humanly could be. Early arid late he works; he is in touch with every part of the big machine, and no duty is too irksome for him to perform.

"Attention should be drawn to the fine home opened recently at Heliopolis, about three miles from the hospital, by eight ladies deputed to do so by tne Wanganui and Wairarapa districts. This home is managed by Miss Early, late of Otahuhu, and is replete with every possible comfort a convalescent patient might require. It is in a house belonging to a nepbew of the Sultan of Egypt, and is cWe to the palace occupied by the Sultana-mother. It is situated on the edge of the desert, in what is considered the healthiest part of the environs of Cairo. ' It is conducted on the principle of a private house, and every effort is mado to render it a homo away from home. It cannot fail to prove of great value to the hospital, as it will, when in full running order, accommodate 65 convalescents."

Dr. Maguire mentions that as Cairo is 124 miles inland, the most serious eases of New Zealanders have hitherto been distributed in the first instance among several hospitals in Alexandria, the port at which the wounded are landed. _ In order to deal with theso cases it is proposed that an auxiliary hospital, under the same administration as the General Hospital, be establised at Alexandria, to accommodate 100 patients. At such a hospital, which will be efficiently staffed, serious eases could be dealt with on disembarkation, and when fit to travel could ho drafted to the General Hospital in Cairo, arid thenco to the convalescent homo attached to it. This will render the New Zealand hospital service in Egypt complete, and Dr. Maguire says it is to be hoped that the ideal will soon, bo realised. In this way New Zealand will deal with her sick and voiindud right through tlin place, from Jkft fiw.aMafl to ilie-caflVAlfiamfc home,.