One case was that in which a woman in great distress, herself ill, and unable to attend to a dying husband and sick family, sought the use of a neighbour's telephone to ring up a doctor. It was refused. She pleaded with three others, hastening from house to house, but none would allow her inside the door. At last she reached one family, sufficiently Christian to allow her to call for help, but it came too late. Nurses and other helpers tell of the refusal of motor car owners to take them in their cars when going the same way and no tram is available, and, in consequence, they have had to trudge long distances, often with heavy baskets of food. ``Panic could not more violently have seized some people, who have allowed a morbid fear to overcome every trace of common-sense and human sympathy,'' said a worker.
Bureau organising help
In Dunedin, the Central Bureau, which opened only last Friday, started on a very modest scale, but has rapidly grown into a vast organisation, and, under the supervision of the Rev. V. G. B. King, is carrying out a work of incalculable benefit to the community. Mr King is the right man in the right place, and his great organising ability is only equalled by his indomitable spirit and unbounded energy in the work into which he has entered heart and soul. The activities of the bureau are by no means confined to sending out medical and nursing assistance in response to appeals for help. Each day a large number of people visit the bureau seeking immediate assistance, and as a stock of drugs and suitable remedies is kept on hand, the trouble is in many instances nipped in its incipient stage.
Practically the whole staff engaged on the work of the bureau are giving their services free, there only being one or two instances where payment for services has been made, and then only sufficient to compensate for loss of wages. It will thus be readily seen that the great work undertaken by the Central Bureau cannot be adequately carried out without monetary assistance. Donations have been coming in freely, but a large sum is yet required - a fact which must be manifest to all, and which only requires to be known to induce the public to show their sympathy in a practical way.
Nurses' home appeal
Mrs W. Barron's late residence at Kew was being prepared yesterday for immediate use as a convalescent home for nurses who have been infected with influenza in the course of their duty at the Hospital. The bulk of the furnishings have been procured, but we have been asked to make an appeal to the public to supply some of the articles which contribute a homely touch.
Three dozen cushions are required, and a supply of pictures and of literature, especially books and magazines, would be appreciated. The home is to be brought into use this afternoon, and if sympathetic citizens who are in a position to present any of these articles will leave them in the course of the forenoon at the Inquiry Bureau, old Post Office buildings, the authorities will provide the means of conveyance of the gifts to the home.
- ODT, 20.11.1918.
