THE MELBOURNE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4589, 4 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MELBOURNE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN.

• » - | (From the Daily Telegraph.) > One of the most unpretentious, and yet one of the most useful public charitable institutions in Melbourne, is the Hospital for Sick Children, in Spring-street. Very little is heard, of it, yet the ChUdren’s Hospital does as much good in its way as do the better known and. larger institutions, such as the Melbourne’and Alfred Hospitals and the Benevolent Asylum, and its sphere of usefulness would he greatly enlarged were the public a little more liberal in their subscriptions. A more worthy medium for the exercise of charity could not be found than this hospital for sick children, and our object in writing about it is to draw the attention of the public to the fact of its existence. The facts we shall mention will prove the valqe of the institution, and the necessity of its being well supported by those who are possessed or means, and who take an interest in the Vet: fare of children. The hospital for sick chili dren was first opened on the 11th September, 1870, in a building in Stepheu-street, and so great were the demands made upon it that about two years ago it was found necessary to obtain a more commodioiis .structure.. Hence the present premises, iq . Spring-street, between Flihders-street and Flinders-laue were secured. These premises are large and well situated, but they are not sufficient for the require-, ments of the hospital. They are rented, and the committee are desirous of securing a piece of land from the Government on ; which tq; erect their own buildings. There is a difficulty, however, in the way in regard to a site. The only available free site, it seems, is some distance from the centre of the city, and.it cannot be accepted because of the distance. A piece of land near the Royal Park, on the Sydney-road, was offered to the committee, and it would be admirably suited to indoor patients, but the principal benefit conferred by the institution is the treatment of outdoor patients, and it would be cruel to drag a poor woman with a sick child all the way from the city to the Royal Park for treatment day after day. In consequence of this difficulty the. committee 'are compelled to carry on their operations in a building utterly inadequate to the requirements of the' charity.’ is wanted is that some of bur wealthy colonis.ts should come forward with .liberal subscriptions towards a fund for the purchase of an allotment of land in'the city, and the erection thereon of a suitable building. Sir S. Wilson gave £30,000 for the building of ah assembly hall in connection with bur University ; could not a few of our wealthy colonists ; join; to-, gt-thef and subscribe a. third of that sum I for, the purchase' of a 1 site, and‘the erection’bf a children’s hospital. Their 'money would ;not bo thrown away, but, on the contrary, would be the menus of doing.good to the poorer classes of the ' community. In the present building there is only room for twenty children.' This has hitherto proved quite suffioieut for the inmates, as there has never been more than that number of in-patients, but there is a woeful want of accommodation for qut-patieuta; As an illustration of this it is sufficient _to mention that besides the kitchen ‘and kindred surroundings, there are only six rooms in tho house.' Four of these are 1 hSed as. wards : for the children ; of the remaining; two,, one Is. utilised as' consulting-robm, operating-room, and. committee-room, while the' other is ithe general'dining-room for' the children, and -is also used as a waiting-room for out-patients. It is this that shows the necessity for more accommodation. Children suffering frotn contagious diseases are not admitted as in-patients,.

but children suffering from any diseases whatever are treated as out patients, and they and their parents dr guardians have to wait in the dining-room until their turn comes to see the medical man in attendance. It happens thus that children suffering from scarlet fever, measles, croop, whooping-cough, and" other zymotic diseases are daily congregated in the dining-room of the hospital, and are likely to leave the germs of their diseases behind them to take hold of the in-patients. Fortunately only one case of fever has occurred in the institution during the present epidemic, but this is attributable to 1 the good management of, and the precautions taken by, Mrs. Bishop, the matron. So soon as it was known that scarlet fever was raging in the city the matron caused the building to be thoroughly fumigated, and since then disinfectants have been largely used. The result was that the fever did not spread, and the child who suffered from it is now unite recovered. The institution is under the management of a committee of ladies, who deserve great credit for the admirable manner in which it is conducted. Since the hospital was first established over 10,000 children have been treated, the averages of cases being more than 200 a-year. The in-patients are limited by the regulations to children between the ages of two and thirteen years, but in the case of a pressing necessity children under that ago are received. There is no limit in the age of out-patients under thirteen years. At the present time there are only seven inpatients, the remainder suffering from chronic diseases having been sent to:their homes on the outbreak of the fever. There are three medical gentlemen who voluntarily attend the hospital regularly on alternate days, viz., Dr, Wiggs, Dr. Rees, and Dr. A. Beckett, while l)rs! Neild, Motherwell, and James, and Professor Halford constitute the honorary consulting . staff. It is gratifying to note that the in-patients of this institution find a real home. Those who have the management of it do not content , themselves with simply treating the children from a medical point of view, but they endeavor, as far as lies in their power, to make them happy and comfortable, so far as their affliction will enable thorn to be. Toys of every kind are supplied to the children suitable to their sex, and a board is attached to each little cot, forming a table, which is fixed in such a manner that whether they are able to sit up or not the children can while, away their time with their toys. It is perhaps, almost needless to mention that toys of any description are thankfully received by the, committee, and suitable books also for children who have reached an age to be able to read and understand them. The charitably inclined, who have not hitherto contributed towards the support of this hospital, would not waste a half hour iu visiting and inspecting it. Last year 2076 cases were treated, and the attendance numbered 7381, while of the in-patients, no less than forty-four were sent away cured, a far greater number of chronic cases being considerably relieved. It may perhaps be well worth , while to mention that in connection with the hospital for sick children it is not only subscribers of £1 and upwards who are entitled to issue tickets to those requiring the benefits of the institution. Those persons who contribute less than ,£1 annually have the privilege of one out-door ticket for every ss. they subscribe. Of course, the privilege of admitting in-patients is only granted to subscribers of £1 and upwards. There is now a sum of .£5564 to the credit of the building fund, and it is sincerely to be hoped that this amount will be supplemented to such an extent that the committee will very soon be in a position to purchase a site of land in a healthy, part of the city, and erect thereon a structure equal to the requirements of so ad* mirable an institution.