EPIDEMIC WORK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 67, 13 December 1918, Page 5

EPIDEMIC WORK

WELLINGTON BAST'S FINAL MEETING. Mr. William Foster occupied the.chair •it, the winding-up meeting of the Wellington East gro.up of workers in connection with the epidemic, held in the Cambridge Terrftce Congregational Schoolroom last evening. The report presented, referring to the splendid service of the women workers, said: "The work done by the women who took over, the work of personally ministering to the sick was heroic ( selfsacrificing. It was done voluntarily and cheerfully, ami was marked by a high standard of efficiency.- In the first six days of the campaign they worked up to fourteen hours a day; then the strain eased a little and twelve hours became a day's work. The extent-of their work may be gauged by the fact that the rough day-book of the district contains the names and" addresses of 819 separate houses; in most of.these there were, two or .-inoro".patients; in many there were two or more families. Many patients also were visited by the nurses who were called on on their rounds, and all patients •were visited until their convalescence seemed assured." The report acknowledged" the professional services of Dr. Gibhs and Di\ Elliott, who- took charge of the moro seri,ous cases as they arose from day to day, deferring to the canteen, the report said: "The canteen embraced: (a) Medicines, (b) invalid drinks .and food and fruit, ,(c) disinfectant. The, management of this department was taken over from the beginning by Mr. P. Garrard, with Air. Barrett as second in command. Mr. Garrard performed wonders of organisation considering the very limited amount of accommodation at his disposal, and the whole of the work of this department was 'done admirably by a most enthusiastic staff of workers. For supplies the canteen was indebted to the Town Hall, the military medical stores, the Commercial Travellers' Club, and to the many good friends who showed fine practical sympathy by sending in regularly full supplies of beautifully-prepared invalid food. Besides supplies made direct over the counter, the nurses took out fully equipped emergency boxes of medicines and, invalid foods packed up. by the staff of this department." The report also paid a tribute to those who had lent cars for the transport or' nurses, and others -who had given valu'able services, and concluded by stressing the point that all the work' was done voluntarily and without any payment whatever, and that there was absolutely no friction or lack of cordiality throughout—everyone worked freely and cheerfully at whatever task was set them. Mr. T. Forsyth thought that Mr. Foster had been conspicuously modest in having made no mention of himself in what was a committee's report, and he gave ample testimony to the able and tactful manner in .which Mr. Foster had performed notably line work. Mr. P. Laws also spoke in appreciation of Mr. Foster's capacity as, supervisor. ' Mr. Garrard, in presenting the balancesheet,, said that the sum of ,£3l 9s. had bean received in donations and JE2B Us. 4<l. through the sale of medicines,. etc. The expenditure was Mi 7s. 6d., leaving a balance of ,£ls 15s. lOd. There were two other accounts—«C3o 2s. 6d. for drugs and £U7 15s. for car hire—to bo paid by the Health Department. The car hire, it was explained, was the charge made by one taxi-driver, who had been engaged by the day at schedule rates—lss. for the first hour and 12s. Cd. thereafter, running or standing. The balance-sheet was adopted. On tho motion of the chairman it was decided to hand over the balance (.£ls 15s. lOd.) to Mr. Forsyth, who was disbursing a little money from the Town Hall on necessitous cases in the district.