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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1974.
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APPEAL FOR PUBLIC APPRECIATION OF NURSING SERVICE YEARS OF HARD WORK, DEDICATION RECALLED AT ROTARY TALK
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MISS LYDIA CHEUNG, SENIOR NURSING OFFICER, MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT, TODAY CALLED FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE PUBLIC TOWARDS THE NURSING SERVICE IN HONG KONG TO ENABLE IT TO ACHIEVE A HIGHER STANDARD OF PATIENT CARE AND IMPROVED RELATIONS.
SPEAKING AT A LUNCHEON OF THE KWOLOON EAST ROTARY CLUB, SHE SAID THE PROFESSION AS A WHOLE WANTED A BETTER SERVICE, AND TO THIS END, WELCOMED +CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.+
SHE RECALLED THAT THE GOVERNMENT NURSING SERVICE STARTED ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO WHEN THE FIRST GOVERNMENT CIVIL HOSPITAL WAS SET UP AND PATIENTS WERE LOOKED AFTER BY UNTRAINED STAFF IN 1873.
IN 1890, ONE MATRON AND FIVE NURSING SISTERS WERE RECRUITED FROM ENGLAND. THEIR HARD WORK LAID A SOUND FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESENT NURSING SERVICE. IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED, THE SERVICE WAS STEADILY EXPANDED TO MEET INCREASING NELOS.
IN 1898, TWO BRITISH NURSES DIED FROM BUBONIC PLAGUE AFTER CONTACTING THE DISEASE, AND THERE WAS AN EMOTIONAL REACTION BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN HELD IN THE GREATEST RESPECT BY THE COMMUNITY FOR THEIR DEVOTION TO DUTY.
THE FIRST HONG KONG GIRL TO RECEIVE NURSING TRAINING UNDERWENT THIS IN 1910. BY 1941, THE FIRST TRAINING SCHOOL HAD ACHIEVED A GOOD REPUTATION, AND WAS TURNING OUT ANNUALLY MANY GOOD NURSES.
MISS CHEUNG PAID A TRIBUTE TO NURSES WHO HAD CARRIED ON DURING THE PACIFIC WAR DESPITE MANY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. SHE LOOKED BACK AT HISTORY TO RECALL THAT FIVE NURSES HAD BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED WHILE WORKING IN THE HEIGHT OF BATTLE. SOME NURSES WENT TO CHINA TO CONTINUE THEIR SERVICE FOLLOWING THE FALL OF HONG KONG.
AS SOON AS THE WAR ENDED, MANY MEDICAL AND NURSING OFF ICERS RETURNED, DOING THEIR BEST TO NORMALISE CONDITIONS, AND IN 1946, THE GOVERNMENT NURSING SCHOOL REOPENED, WITH THE SERVICE EXPANDING STEADILY SINCE TO MEET THE GROWING NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE NUMBER OF NURSING STAFF AND ALLIED GRADES NOW TOTALLED 5,223.
IN A REFERENCE TO EMERGENCY MISSIONS CARRIED OUT BY POLICE LAUNCHES OR HELICOPTERS WHICH TRANSFER ACUTE PATIENTS FROM REMOTE AREAS TO URBAN HOSPITALS, MISS CHEUNG SAID NURSES AND MIDWIVES INVARIABLY AND INEVITABLY TOOK PART, BUT THE PUBLIC KNEW LITTLE ABOUT THIS, TAKING THE SERVICE FOR GRANTED, AND SELDOM GIVING CREDIT WHERE IT WAS DUE.
/IN ADDITION