TRAINING MOTHERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 May 1921, Page 6

TRAINING MOTHERS.

DR. TRUBY KING’S METHODS. PROGRESS OF THE LONDON CENTRE. London, March 9. Since the return to New Zealand of Dr. Truby King, in Qctober of 1919, no departure of any kind has been made from the methods and details for the care and general management of mothers and babies, who have) been treated at the centre founded at Earl’s Court three years ago. The annual report of the Mothercraft Training Society, which the organisation founded by Dr. Truby King is now called, shows that the sphere of influence has greatly extended and the work is being more and more widely recognised. Doctors infant welfare centres, and kindred societies show their appreciation of the work by constantly sending to the centre difficult cases to be dealt with.

“We are inundated with requests for nurses who have had our special training,” says the report, “and the Outpatients’ Department is steadily on the increase. There is still much to be done, however, to make the society’s work more widely known, and to enable us to help even more mothers; for many, after coming to the hospital for advice, voice their appreciation of it by saying, ‘We only wish we had known- of you before.’ ” ✓

A tribute to the success of the Centre is paid in the annual report of the King’s Cross branch of the Mothers’ and Infants’ Welfare Centre. “We would wish to record here,” it is stated ‘ : our deep appreciation of the babies of the Empire Home, founded by Dr. Truby King. During the year we have sent four babies to the Home, three of whom, we feel confident, would not have lived but for the skilled care bestowed upon them by this institution.’]’

AMERICA FOLLOWS. “A movement is on foot,” the report proceeds, “to establish a replica of the Training Centre in America. The American ladies ’ connected with the Red Cross have been studying the methods and have generously declared they have seen nothing so good, elsewhere. Dr. Jewesbury has carried on the work in the Home on the exact lines laid down by Truby King, which means that he has given the same extraordinary attention to detail in the case of every baby, and the committee cannot sufficiently appreciate the splendid work that he is doing. Breast-feeding and the educational aspect of the work is preached in and out of season. In April, Dr. Lambert held an annual inspection on behalf of the Ministry of Health, and expressed herself well satisfied with all that she saw. She thought, however, that the Ministry might require a special room |o be set apart for isolation purposes; this has since been arranged. At a Nursing and Midwifery Conference, held last summer, the Centre was invited to exhibit* and. the matron was asked to speak. The opportunity- was taken, and as a result, much interest was shown in the work, with a great demand for literature, and a number of applications for training.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS. It is further reported that arrangements have been made for a special series of lectures and demonstrations for the international students, who are at the present time in this country taking a course at King’s College in accordance with a scheme for which* the Red Cross iS responsible. Dr. J. S. Fairburn, one of the honorary physicians to the society, in a special report says: “The wonderful success of Dr. Truby King’s methods, and the enthusiasm inspired among those who every day witness the living proof of it, should be studied by all those interested in the Infant Welfare movement. A few years ago, such results would have been looked upon as bordering on the miraculoirs; now they are an every-day occurrence at Trebovirroad, and the work done within the four walls of the Home is but a small fraction of the contribution of the Mothercraft Training Society to the public good.” RAISING THE FUNDS. With a view to securing a more definite annual income, and to stimulate and sustain ’interest in the work of the society, the committee has had Articles of Association drawn up, so that subscriptions may be invited for Life, Anhual, or Associate Membership. Any person who subscribes not less than one. guinea per annum may be a member, and the Executive Committee are entitled to divide the members, into groups, known as founders, governors, and ordinary members, according to the amounts of their respective subscriptions. Associates are those who subscribe less than one ginea, but not less than five shillings per annum.

The chairman of the Executive Committee, in succession to the late Lord Plunket, is Sir Alexander Roger.