THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. Saturday, March 12, 1910 NURSES FOR THE COUNTRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 241, 12 March 1910, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. Saturday, March 12, 1910 NURSES FOR THE COUNTRY.

The Minister for Hospitals has decided to admit for free training jn the various maternity hospitals throughout the Dominion, students who are specially recommended by hospital boards, and who come from country districls. The bare outline of this most promising scheme hardly does more than indicate its valuable possibilities. Settlers in the backblocks, and even in many rising townships adjacent to the railway, suffer severe hardships through the absence of qualified help in cases where a trained nurse would be a godsend- to them. A doctor, be he ever so capable or energetic, cannot undertake the duties of a woman in those critical times, and i£ qnly needs a reference to the actual condition of things in some of our remote districts to prove that, when properly trained, such nurses will fill a very serious need. The Minister for Hospitals evidently recognises the difficulties country settlers exist under in the inability to retain qualified nurses in their midst for any lengthy period, and a leading feature of the new scheme is that the students shall come from the country, and it will be a condition of their training that they practice in the country, when their training is completed. It is also gratifying to know that Mr. Fowlds' gcheme for district nurses is progressing, and that special provision is made in the new Hospital Boards Act for .placing district nurses in outlying settlements, either on a guarantee, local or otherwise, or by some other arrangempnl;. If, for example, Te Kuiti desired that a district nursie be 'ssa£ioned here, representations could be'\made to the Waikat.o Hospital

County is, and with a guarantee from the borough that is to be, and an allowance from the Hospital Board, her services would be at the call of every resident in the town requiring them. A district nurse's duty is to call in medical aid, where required, and to follow the doctor's instructions; to keep the doctor informed of the patient's daily condition; to render first aid in case of accident; to accompany patients to the hospital; to be the local supervisor of untrained midwives, advise the board of the circumstances of applicants for charitable relief, attend emergency maternity cases, and advise mothers on babyfeeding and general sanitation. There is a wide field of usefulness before both district nurses ani maternity nurses, and it is to be hoped the schemes will have all the success they undoubtedly deserve.