Baby’s Need is the Open Door

Evening Star, Issue 22146, 28 September 1935, Page 10

Baby’s Need is the Open Door

The Prematures. Just as the normal children are beautiful and robust, the premature babes are pitiable and frail. Prematures arc not necessarily ill babies, but having come into the world before full term thev need added protection and skilled nursim' so that they may attain normal health and growth, In this work the home now specialises, and succeeded last year in saying all but 2.4 per cent, of those delicate little creatures, whereas the mortality percentage for the whole of the Dominion was It is customary for the home always to have about eight “prematures.” Some odd tales as to the delivery of these mites to Karitane are told, and among the best . are those dealing with the arrival of one in a boot box and another in a hot water bottle cover. On entry, the 11 prematures ” are snugly swathed in special woolly clothing, and placed in a small, steamheated room, since life at this stage depends on warmth. Hovering between 60 and 65 degrees, the temperature of the ward is evenly and unceasingly maintained. The cosy bassinette- — each bearing a card with the occupant’s name, date of birth, and date of admission to the home—are the subject of much attention, for visitors are naturally sympathetic toward these helpless be-bonneted babes. Feeding such infants is a tedious business. Sometimes it takes as long as half an hour to get one of them to swallow a teaspoonful of milk. They are also sponged and oiled daily, not overlooking the weighing ceremony, from which tbo self-explanatory and much-studied ,graphs are slowly outlined. Mothercraft Section. Situated to tbo right of the main hospital building is the mothercraft section. One of the principal ideals of the borne is to keep mother and baby together for their mutual benefit, and it is in the mothorcrait section that this work is accomplished. One of the most gratifying features is that year by year the number of admissions to this section is increasing, with a consequent decrease in the number of ill babies in the general wards. This work, too, was persevered with under the main roof before the Amy Carr cottage was erected in 1918. The late Mrs Carr was the first honorary secretary of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, and her cottage has been as great a boon and blessing to the movement as were her personal services in bygone days. In more recent years a largo extension was made to the cottage, and now there is accommodation for six mothers with babies. It is a comfortable building, with a lovely outlook.; Large windows and all bedroom doors open on to wide and sunny verandahs. It is a healthy, airy place, where the utmost has been done, with no meagre measure of success, to create an atmosphere of homeliness. The dining room is not dissimilar to the customary bungalow breakfast room, and the cosy sitting room, with its cheery open fireplace, has been the sotting for the kindling of hundreds of lifetime friendships among mothers of all classes; in fact, class barriers are discouraged and swiftly upset by all that the mothers here brought together have in common with one another. Moreover, they all pull together to lighten- the burden of the staff, and are even willing to assist with household duties, such as dish washing and general tidying, which also serve as an effective deterrent fyom brooding. Is it any wonder, then, that many mothers have grateful recollections of the time they oucc spent in residence at the cottage? Here premature babes are reunited to their mothers. 1 Sick babies are taken by their mothers for a healthgiving treatment which they have not learned to administer. with their first-borns seek admittance for a thorough and useful grounding in the rudiments of general nursing, mothercraft, and child care, as well as to acquire, under skilled supervision, knowledge of the principles of infant hygiene.

Of Course We Love them. “ Love them? Why, of course, we love the wee darlings,” the nurses will tell you ot their precious charges. Mothers love their own little ones, but the nurses love them collectively, and are periodically to bo found during sleeping hours popping round the cots and bassinets to peep and whisper en-

dcarmonts. The nurses are' the watchful godmothers of the Karitane babies. Plunket Training School. Incidentally, it is , appropriate, in view of the Dunedin Karitane Home being the parent of the movement, that it should be the Dominion’s training school for Plunket nurses. Sixty Plunket nurses pass through the home in a year. Twenty of them are always resident. They serve a term consisting of four months’ study in the natyre of a post-graduate course in infant welfare. In addition there are the Karitane nurses. They are students without previous training in the care of infants, who commence by taking a 16-months course. The number is limited to 14, and an extensive list, reveals the popularity of the occupation. Special sisters are permanently retained to co-operate with the matron in the supervision and control of the home and its responsible task. Food Preparation. What of baby’s diet? Who specifies it, and where is it prepared? are queries that ultimately find expression during conversation. All replies are to be found in the dispensary, where the three essentials known to the nurses are “ clean, cool, and covered.” The basis of all foods is cow’s milk, modified to the human standard. Many parts are added to produce a so-called humanised food. A different recipe is ordered for almost every child, according to the requirement for more sugar, more fat, or more protein. Once a day the bottles are made up as prescribed, and with due regard to capacity. For instance, if a child’s diet is 21oz a day, it is given seven meals of 3oz each, this quantity of milk being placed in the required number of bottles until meal times. Each bottle bears a speciallyattacbed metal number disc, so that there is no fear of any mix-up. For the few normal children beyond the infant stage special dietetic N meals are cooked, and in their preparation the nurses show a thoughtful attention to the particular needs of the little ones. The meals are laid out on miniature tables, at which the youngsters sit in Lilliputian chairs, and they are taught from very early ages the proper manner of feeding themselves. In the Kitchen. Later you are introduced to the cook and her kitchen, where meals are produced for between 50 and 60 adults, including the nursing staff, domestic servants, mothers in residence, and other attendants. Both coal and gas ranges are installed. All jams and preserves used in the home are made in this kitchen, where there is a complete absence of labour-saving devices, such as might be expected in an institution of its size. One of the kitchen’s fixtures is a large destructor, which is an all-im-portant factor in pre/viding the heat for the premature ward, as well aa in serving the entire building with hot water. Every Day Washing Day. Every day is washing day at .Karitane. Hundreds of babies’ clothes, flannels, linens, and a multitude of other soiled materials require washing day after day, and to cope with this there is a large modern laundry. Institution clothes are always used, •a largo supply of hundreds of garments being stacked in their proper compartments on the nursery storage shelves in readiness for the oft-repeated changing of the babies’ clothes. All these garments are supplied to the home ready made by an active and energetic Sewing Committee connected with the society, and the nurses are thus spared this big task.

The Nurses’ Home. The romance of the nurses’ home is consistent with the development of the Karitaue movement. It is truly one of the main features of interest in a visit to the home, since in the 28 years that the institution has been functioning the gradual and ever-in-creasing recognition of the important

part played by the nurses is adequately reflected in their living quarters. At first they occupied a stable, which was later extended, and now they are provided in a palatial brick structure. June *ll, 1925, was a memorable day for the nurses, when Sir Charles Fergusson, as Governor-General, laid the foundation stone for their _ present home. It is a home of whicvi they

are justly proud, and if offers all the comforts that a private dwelling could give. The 52 bedrooms are each fitted for a single occupant; fbut the spirit of sorority is engendered in the studies and sitting rooms, which, too. are adequately appointed. ' A large lecture and recreation hall is attached to the home. ; It contains a piano and gramophone—a smooth floor, too—so is it necessary to add that youth finds a pleasurable and l profitable way of passing a little leisure time? f When the occasion' demands, over 200 persons can be-"seated in the hall. Classes in mothercraft and infant care are often given in the course of a year, and lectures are delivered annually to various groups such as the Young Women’s pivision of the Farmers’ Union, tfie Girl Guides, secondary school pupils, and other interested persons. . { \ In memory of ’ oije of the movement’s greatest is the handsome bust of’ Mrs D. E. Theorem, which stands dver the fireplace in the lecture hall. _ Mrs Theemin was one of the 1 society’s foundation members and ifs honorary treasurer for 16 years. The nurses’ home is situated in, spacious grounds, which were presented to the Dunedin branch of the society, by Mrs and. Miss Massey, of Southland, in memory of the [late Mr Horatio Massey. Large areas surrounding th« home are cultivated,’ and all vegetables and small fruits, suoh as currants and gooseberries, used throughout the institution, are grown on the place, which keeps a gardener always well occupied. ' !

Karitcme' Movement’s c ßole

ADMIRABLE WORK TO PROMOTE HEALTH OF MOTHER AND CHILD Tj" H” EALTH is wealth, the saying goes. So also is « M nation's wealth reflected in the health of its Jj J people, and it is only by strict adherence to JL JSL natural science that a country may hope to mother robust sons and daughters to shoulder life’s burdens down the T*) •» in the capacity a* instructor in the rf<Wrp(ing the rearing of babies that the its great share toward moulding a health Zealand that is the envy of many other cotHprsesi / From lowly beginnings, W blossomed forth an institui tion of world wide since it originated in our own fair city only 28 ifears a&o. it is meet that its progress and present-day operations should be recorded, together with observations that impress the visitor durine a tour of inspection of the Anderson's Bav home -

Distinguished Founder. About 1905 the attention of Dr (now Sir) Truby King became focused on the harm being done by the almost universal practice of artificial feeding of infants, and the ignorance and carelessness of parents m regard to this matter, leading to an unnecessarily high infant mortality. Be discovered that out of 25,000 children born annually in New Zealand, over 2,000 died. He therefore determined to prove that this appalling wastage of human life, directlv traceable to faulty nutrition in infancy, could be prevented, and thus he took up the cause of mother and baby. For two years before the hospital and its work were founded in 1907, the first babies to receive care under the 'lruby King system were taken by him to his devoted wife. In their iprivate home, with only the assistance ■ of an untrained Scottish girl- (Miss M‘Kinnon, who became the; first Plunket nurse), they worked away quiedy, gaining results fhat proved 1 without doubt — ; ; that if the infant mortality rate were io be materially reduced, the mothers (actual and .prospective) must bo roused from their ignorance, and some system of education in motherhood introduced. “ Accuse not Nature, she Hath done her part; do thou thine,’.’ quoted Dr Truby King at the public meeting held in the Town Hall on May 14, 1907. when he told of his results and advocated the organising and extension of a society whose primary aim should be the better treatment of babies. It was unanimously’ decided to .form a league for promoting the health of women and children, and at a further meeting on Mav 23, 1907, the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society) came into being. To this organisation Dr Truby King offered bis beautiful little country house on the Karitane Peninsula for a period of six months, in which time it was realised how necessary such a home was to the society. A suitable place, With ample grounds, was chosen at Anderson’s Bay, and in 1910 the property was presented l to the society by Mr "Wolf Harris. From these comparatively insignificant beginnings has burgeoned a movement that is now a household word here as well as in other conn tries. As knowledge of the original work here in Dunedin became more widely spread, other homes were established in Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui, Christchurch, and Invercargill. At the present day there are about 201* nurses in training in the various institutions. The movement then won sympathy in Australia, and, finally, in 1918 it "was established on similar lines in London by the Motbercraft Training Society, of which Sir Truby King was also a founder. Until last year the name of the local institution- was the Karitanc-Hairis Hospital, but to meet the wish, of'the society that the minies of the founders —Sir Truby and the late Lady King—should be perpetuated in connection with its work, it was unanimous},y decided to rename tbe place the J’nibv King-Hands Hospital. Karitane hospitals are mainly intended tor ha hies in early infancy who are suffering from debility, mlnutri-

tiou, wasting, indigestion, diarrhoea, vomiting, rickets, and scurvy; those who are failing to develop satisfactorily despite doctors’ and nurses’ attention, ana those who need special care and attention because of prematurity. Economically,’ the home is a worthy proposition. Babies are not bom ill, lack of knowledge—though no lack of Jove—making then susceptible to sickness, and the natural Karitane cure has invariably proved the least costly in the long run. For instance, the average stay in the home for mothers with babies is 7.6 days, and artificiallyfed infants are kept on an average 8.57 weeks Hospital, home, and institution it has been termed, but Karitane teaches its servants to shun hospitalisation and institutionalism. Rather it is its endeavour to reproduce the humble conditions of the home. _ Consequently, nursing is an individua ■ I matter. Nurses attend to every babe separately —which is admittedly the only satisfactory method of assisting dietetic cases—and mother ' • find that nothing is done for their children that they themselves cannot do for thorn after the elementary and common-sense training given in the mothercraft section of the hospital. Homeliness is the immediate impression you gain and retain on a vist to. the homo as it is to-day. A simple atmosphere of happiness and tranquillity is sensed from the moment you enter the gateway and come on the spacious, sloping 'garden. Sir Truby King was a staunch advocate of gardens, as they permit the accumulation of fresh air about a dwelling, and therefore engender the proper healthgiving spirit. It has ever been his aim to have the windows of his homes looking directly on to a garden, and at Anderson’s Bay this has been accomplished. In such peaceful surroundings, who could be anything but healthy and happy? Nevertheless, although the big homestead houses abundant measure of young life “ in the ipink,” there is also much that is pathetic, for there js •ample evidence that, whereas babies are born in perfect health, mere maternal love cannot replace ignorance. Meditations are abruptly halted an the door is swung wide and a nurse, impeccably uniformed, smilingly admits you to interview the matron, to spend a brief time with the staff and their charges, or to follow the intelligent ami faultless routine of the entire institution. As yet you could have gained not even a remote conception of the magnitude of the place, or the purpose it serves in the' community. You wait, before you set out on your eye-opening tour of inspection, in a small hallway, where the brisk, busi-ness-like activity of the institution makes an immediate impression. Nurses, clad in the distinctive uniforms of their respective ranks, hustle hither and thither attending to the needs of the babes. You may learn from them that the polished brass memorial plates on either side of the hallway are a dedication announcement that the home was eiven to the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children by the late Mr Wolf Harris, and an appreciation of this benefactor’s gift.

By W.A.L

Accommodation for 30. The original building still forms the main hospital block, and though considerable additions and alterations have been effected at various times it is still only equipped for the treatment or 30 babies at one time. Admission for many more children is always being sought, but parents have to be disappointed. It is • fully recognised that some time in the very near future a more commodious and up-to-date hospital will have to be erected. Normal babies are naturally the light of the hospital’s watchful eye. ft is they 7 , too, who excite the greatest admiration of the visitor. Day and night they sleep under a sheltered balcony in the fresh air, while on suitable days they are also fed and bathed in the open aii - . Otherwise their cosy nursery (converted from the original dining room of the homestead) has to be brought into use. Here it is noticed, as 'elsewhere in the home, that no shades or curtains adorn the windows, the lower panes of which are fitted with special violet ray glass. This is perhaps the happiest room in the home, for daily it is the scene of the always enjoyable task of bathing some 20 little bodies, which are afterwards clad in woollies and other babh garments that are laid out in order of dressing in each child’s basket, the whole being tidily arranged round the walls of the nursery.