Nor'West News: June 29, 2023

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8 Thursday June 29 2023 The public feud between two of SAINT: Nurse Sibylla Maude started what would become New Zealand’s district nurse programme. TWO OF the city’s favourite daughters once went head to head in a public scrap that was rather unbecoming of their status as ‘saints in the making’. The redoubtable nurse Sibylla Emily Maude – originator of what would become New Zealand’s district nurse programme and this country’s answer to Florence Nightingale – took on women’s suffragist and mother of the nation, Kate Sheppard, in a public disagreement which resonated in the letters to the editor pages of the Christchurch Star and the Lyttelton Times over the last few days of 1898. The interaction features in Judith Devaliant’s book Kate Sheppard: A Biography. “The issue concerned an anonymous woman who had had the misfortune of contracting what was clearly a rather nasty disease,” says Helen Osborne, property lead for Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House. Kate Sheppard’s Ilam home is today cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. “Suffragist Kate Sheppard and fellow women’s advocate Ada Wells wrote a letter to the editor highlighting the plight of the woman and her family and describing her condition as ‘a disease of loathsome form, the details of which are so revolting they cannot be here explained’. The zealous duo petitioned for the removal of the two sons of the woman in question so they could be lodged elsewhere in healthier surroundings as the boys were unable to isolate themselves within the rather pokey confines of their cottage. They argued the sons were in danger of becoming “a fruitful source of contamination to those with whom they come in contact”. Because the mother’s condition was a chronic one, the Charitable Aid Board had advised it had done all it could reasonably do. Both Sheppard and Wells asked people to send money to the newspaper to help out if they possibly could, adding “much could be said of the pitiful life of the children brought into hourly contact with hideous disease, but we refrain”. “From 1885 all hospitals were run by Charitable Aid Boards whose role was partly to assess patients to determine whether they could pay for their treatment. People assessed as ‘paupers’ were treated for free,” says Osborne. “Boards and some members of the public were quick to expose people they believed were ripping off the system. The way patients were perceived by the Charitable Aid Boards was very important. Sensitivities about communicable diseases, including venereal disease, made public health and fair access to treatment a hot issue that left many women particularly vulnerable.” The Lyttelton Times started to receive donations as a result of the letter, and before long, it also received another contribution from a reader – a letter from Maude, who had a few things to say about the original Sheppard/ Wells letter. And when Maude said something, people had a tendency to sit up and listen. A word from Ilam MP Sarah Pallett Having a warm home is an essential part of preventing respiratory illnesses through the winter season and lowers the risk of other health issues. But the cost can be a real barrier. That’s why we’re continuing to support over a million Kiwis with the Winter Energy Payment. I’ve heard from many constituents what a relief it is to not have to worry so much about turning the heating off to save on power bills. When I worked as a midwife, I saw first-hand what it means to be unable to heat your home. To have to choose between getting a prescription filled or buying a few loaves of bread. Therefore, when Finance Minister Grant Robertson came before caucus and told us that we were going to be scrapping the $5 prescription fee, I felt quite emotional because I know what a massive difference this is going to make to the health of our people. We know that more than 135,000 adults did not collect their medications because of cost in 2021-22. But when people are able to pick up all of the medication that their doctor has prescribed for them, it reduces the chance of small issues becoming big problems that require hospitalisation. This eases the pressure on our health system, which benefits everyone. I know that these actions, alongside our recent 1 April income boosts, will help many families make ends meet and stay healthy over the winter months. As always, I’m here to help. Please get in touch on 0800 727 224 or pop into the office if you need any assistance. Funded by Parliamentary Service. Authorised by Sarah Pallett MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington.
Thursday June 29 2023 9 the city’s most powerful women Maude announced in her letter that she knew the woman in question because – even though the patient wasn’t identified by Sheppard and Wells – it was obvious who they were referring to. She also said the woman had been under her personal care for years. And then she got stuck in: “The unfortunate sufferer is much distressed at the publicity now sought to be given, first without her knowledge or consent, and secondly because of the incorrect and alarming statements circulated as to the alleged contagious nature of her complaint,” she wrote, adding that the patient hadn’t actually talked to anyone about her plight, not least Sheppard and Wells. “She is not ‘lying prostrated from a disease of loathsome form’. She is able to walk about, enjoy fresh air, and I have taken her out and sent her for a drive, which I should be very unlikely to do if her condition were ‘a fruitful source of contamination’.” Maude also advised that the patient had refused any additional help beyond what she “receives already from private friends and the Charitable Aid Board” and that her sons were all healthy and in no danger from infection. The letter was followed by a CONTRIBUTION: Kate Sheppard was the leader of New Zealand’s women’s suffrage movement. note from the editor advising that donations would be returned to readers should it be found that the woman and her three sons were the ones at the centre of the original letter – such was Maude’s mana. It seemed that maybe this storm in the Royal Doulton teacup might be over. Until the zealous Kate and Ada double-downed on their original assertions in a second letter that appeared in the paper a couple of days later. “We have no wish to enter upon a controversy with Miss Maude whose “amour propre” [self esteem] as professional nurse seems to have been wounded,” they wrote. “Our object in writing to you was to obtain healthy conditions for the children.” They also challenged Maude’s medical assessment with the contrary view of an unnamed “medical man” they consulted. They also had a wee dig at Maude’s assertion that the two hadn’t actually talked to the woman concerned. “Miss Maude endeavours to throw doubt on our statement that we called at the cottage . . . we are sorry she should have so poor an opinion of our veracity.” The letters to the editor page – a slower, and only slightly more genteel 19th-century version of Facebook – drew further comment from readers keen to wade in. One ‘troll’ signing themselves as ‘A Rank Outsider’, for example, suggested “a little closer inquiry and a glance at a medical dictionary [by Mrs Sheppard and Mrs Wells] might have saved a certain poor sufferer a heartache instead of adding to her suffering.” And there the matter appears to have landed – a brief though very public spat between two of colonial New Zealand’s foremost female movers and shakers. The clash is revealing, Osborne said. “The debate illustrates the very different approaches taken by these women to the pressing social issues of the day – in this case healthcare,” she says. “Both were on the same ‘side’ and shared common values. Kate Sheppard and Nurse Maude were both strong Christians with a very solid social conscience and sense of duty to the community, the poor and the welfare of women in particular. The fact that their different approaches appear to have put them at loggerheads in this situation is fascinating.” Politically astute Sheppard – the reformer and advocate – was interested in changing institutional structures that kept women and their families poor and powerless. Nurse Maude’s approach was to roll up her sleeves and help. Sheppard affected lasting institutional change by skilfully building up networks of influence around the country and the world. Maude crammed every waking hour with hands-on service to the poor and dispossessed, fuelled by compassion and bacon sandwiches, and in her latter years terrorising motorists in a donated car with her somewhat loose interpretation of the road code as she went about her rounds. “The two women epitomised policy v practical help; strategy versus sympathy. Both were reformers in their different ways and both left a lasting legacy,” says Osborne. When Sheppard died in 1934, the Christchurch Times wrote: “A great woman has gone, whose name will remain an inspiration to the daughters of New Zealand while our history endures.” A year later, almost to the day, Maude passed away. Loved by countless patients and their families, hundreds of mourners lined the streets as her funeral procession passed by. CARE CENTRE NOW OPEN Rest Home & Hospital Care Memory Assisted Care TELEPHONE 03 351 7764 HOLLYLEA.CO.NZ
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Nor'West News: June 29, 2023

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