Plunket Society challenged

Tu Tangata, Issue 23, 1 April 1985, Page 40

Plunket Society challenged

The Plunket Society is being challenged to extend its community care to a wider diversity of people. And in the process, not only language barriers but also other traditional lifestyles and values must be acknowledged, understood and respected.

Plunket’s director of nursing services, Anne Kerley says the work of the society takes it into diverse areas which makes it essential that the society reflects this diversity in its work approach. So far she says the society has met this challenge with pragmatism and understanding. When it was founded by Truby King in 1907, the Plunket Society was unique in providing a level of health care for young children unmatched anywhere else in the world. It’s still a unique system but the society in which Plunket operates has changed dramatically. “Unemployment is a big factor influencing our work today” says Mrs Kerley. “It changes the circumstances people live in, their expectations and attitudes to themselves and to their families. It can create depressing conditions and people may need an extra bit of support to deal with some of the problems.” If some people only saw Plunket’s nurses as bossy matriarchs presiding over rosy-cheeked infants in middleclass suburban homes, that myth is being resolutely debunked, says Anne Kerley. She sees her nurses as a highlytrained, professional group of women, skilled at identifying and meeting the demands made of them. While the emphasis on basic child health care remains high on the list of priorities ensuring children are immunised, fed healthy diets and receive

regular checks on their development there’s an increasing appreciation of the importance parents and families play in preventive health care. Says Mrs Kerley: “Fundamentally I see the role of nurses as encouraging, helping and supporting mothers to do the best they can for their child. “We want mothers to reach their full level of potential so their children can do the same.” Families are encouraged to take on more responsibility for their own health and that of their children through courses like the recently introduced self-help health care schemes. Plunket branches run their own clinics and support groups throughout the country. Karitane nurses and family care units provide an extra dimension of care and help relieve the enormous pressures facing nurses in some areas of the country. Nurses, and their local supporters, also run playgroups, mother support groups, give talks on child health, refer children and parents for specialist medical care and petition the Housing Corporation. The web of support services is widespread and helpful to nurses frequently called upon to provide much more than their nursing skills. They have regular contact with organisations like the Maori Women’s Welfare League and the Salvation Army who often drum up extra help for families in need. “Roll a social worker, housing officer, arbitrator, home economist, nurse and friend into just one person” says Mrs Kerley, “and you’ll get an idea of the work the nurses do. “Our nurses see everything and one of our major strengths is in our first, early contact with families on the birth of a child. “It’s not the families’ responsibility to get in touch with us and we find the vital, early meeting provides an in-

valuable base on which to build up trust and support. “Sometimes nurses go to homes where other outside agencies aren’t welcome. This enables us to see any problems they may range from housing to financial or medical troubles and to do something about it.” At the Plunket Society’s biennial conference in Auckland there were many high-powered speakers who drew attention to major issues affecting children in New Zealand today. Amongst them, Dunedin solicitor Bruce Robertson argued for tactful and constructive handling of custody and access cases which put the needs of children first; Dr David Geddis, Plunket’s medical director, described the “conspiracy of silence” surrounding child sexual abuse and Rotorua lawyer, Cecilie Rushton, urged an awareness of, and supportive action for, the role of women in New Zealand families today. The speeches were hard-hitting, relevant calls for action in national areas of child concern. But the nitty-gritty of what Plunket’s all about, what it achieves in the community and how it sees itself as a force for change at a grassroot level were revealed in the conference remits. Through them the branches’ concern for child welfare took on a practical aspect with remits asking for subsidies for children visiting doctors; a lump sum payment of one year’s family benefit on the birth of all children after the first; more government funding of cot death research and a Plunket campaign to warn of the dangers of leaving young children unattended in cars. Concern for the whole family as well as children was also reflected in the range of remits with branches urging Plunket to endorse the introduction of paternity leave into industrial awards to encourage employers to provide it, and calls for the setting up of parent education programmes. Plunket’s long-running campaigns to pressure for the fencing of domestic swimming pools and to put all children under five into child car seat restraints also received their fair share of attention. 700 delegates and observors from all over the country went to the Auckland conference bringing opinions and experience from the 121 Plunket branches in New Zealand. Their national and local concerns were aired, information on child services exchanged and grievances voiced. The conferences are held once every two years but are vital, as with every large organisation, as places where grassroot members can have their say. The debate forum becomes especially important as Plunket’s role in providing health care for the under-fives changes to meet the needs of the 1980 s.