HELPING THE SICK POOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 13

HELPING THE SICK POOR

DEPOT ESTABLISHED FOOD AND CLOTHING WANTED npO leave hospital with a few A ragged garments and no idea where the next meal is coming from! Anyone who has faced the prospect of such a convalescence will sympathise with the fate of Auckland’s “sick poor,” who have to leave hospital as soon as they have “turned the corner” so that other ill people may come in. To give thoughtful people a practical means of showing their sympathy the Auckland Hospital auxiliary established yesterday a depot for food and clothing in the grounds of the nurses’ home off Park Road.

Every day, except Saturday and Sunday, this depot will be open for the reception of fruit, jam, fresh eggs, cakes, sweets, clean mended clothing, and every other article which may help the sick.

Of the 600 patients in the Auckland Hospital, more than half are poor, too poor to buy the necessities of life. Often they have little clothing when they come in and sometimes their garments have to be destroyed by the authorities. When they are discharged it is essential that they should have warmth and food, and the motortransport committee of the auxiliary takes them home and makes sure that they are comfortable. SPECIAL FOOD NECESSARY

For the patients on special diet in the hospital, gifts of lettuce, lemons, eggs and fish are welcomed. Each patient has his or her ration and allowance, but a flagging appetite responds wonderfully to a delicacy after hospital fare. “The public generally feels that it pays rates to maintain the hospital and that its work should end there,” said the honorary general secretary of the auxiliary, Mrs. C. E. Maguire, “but we hope to rouse a spirit of real charity. Patients get the requisite medical attention, food and nursing, but they often need something besides. The auxiliary is out to help the patients, not to raise money for the board.” The urgent need of the auxiliary is funds, and a street collection in conjunction with the Hospital Patients’ and Families’ Fund Committee is to be held on September 30. The joint convenors of the depot committee are Mesdames Alfred Kidd and Mrs. David Nathan, and the secretary is Mrs A. Hammond Hyde. The gift of a sewing machine would be much appreciated. A left-parcel business will be run by the depot at a 2d a parcel rate.

The depot, which is in charge of Miss Rigg, is open from 8.30 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 p.m. till 4 p.m., from Monday until Friday.