East Auckland

Howick

Nurse Jessie Froude, 30 Selwyn Road (Church Street) (c.1927-1933)

(From Grey's Folly by Alan La Roche, 2011, p. 252) "The first hospital in Howick was in Nurse Jessie Frood's parents house in Selwyn Road which was built in 1907. It is not certain when she started her hospital ... Her hospital closed when Wahroonga Home opened next door, up Selwyn Road, in 1934. "

"Howick Nursing Service.—The resignation of Miss Froude was accepted [by the Hospital Board]. The appointment of a new nurse was left in the hands of the chairman and the member for the district." (Auckland Star 12 April 1933)

Wahroonga Private Hospital, 26 Selwyn Road (Church Street) (1934 - 1948). Nurse Jeanette Watt (1934)

Miss Jeanette Watt at another address before 1934. Seems to have been an appointed District Nurse (Auckland Hospital Board).

The appointment of Miss J. Watt as district nurse was announced in a letter from the Auckland Hospital Board received at the last meeting of the Howick Town Board. Miss Watt received her training at the Whangarei District Hospital, and for the past six years has been in private practice in Cambridge. (NZH 20 May 1933, p. 12)

In June 1934, she applied for a license to operate a two-roomed private maternity and two-roomed convalescent hospital at Church Street. However, by February 1935, she gave up and left the district "having been starved out", according to the Medical Officer of Health. (BAAK A49 19836 Box 69, R6901582, Archives NZ)

In the interim, it appears she was about to act as the district nurse.

A donation of £6 was received from the Manukau County Council toward the expenses of the district nurse, Miss J. Watt, and a similar sum was voted by the board. (NZH 11 December 1933 p. 7)

It was decided to ask Miss J. Watt to reconsider her decision to resign from the post of district nurse. (NZH 8 September 1934). A letter was received from the secretary of the Auckland Hospital Board stating that no further appointment of a district nurse to replace Nurse J. Watt was contemplated, as adequate medical supervision was now available in the district. (NZH 6 October 1934)

Practitioners: Nurse Rose Guthrie Bishop, Nurse Dorothy Muriel Brown (as at 1939), Nurse Pointon

In February 1935, Nurses Bishop and Brown applied for a four-roomed private hospital. Unlike Watt's application, theirs could only be for maternity cases, as they weren't qualified otherwise. Nurse Bishop's mother, Mrs Bishop, provided the cooking and domestic work.(BAAK A49 19836 Box 69, R6901582, Archives NZ)

In 1941, Bishop and Brown moved to Point View Hospital, Kohimarama.

"Medical and convalescent patients, sunny single rooms, elevated, sea views." (Ad, NZH 24 May 1937 p. 20)

"It will soon be six months since this, Howick's only Maternity Hospital, was closed by the health authorities. Small though it was, accommodating only about eight patients, it filled a very responsible post in the life of a community located from Bucklands Beach to Maraetai ... It was closed, so we understand, because the Health Department were of the opinion that it lacked the necessary facilities ... 'Wahroonga' has, we understand, been taken over by the Hospital Board, and will be reopened when the necessary structural alterations have been effected ...", '"Wahroonga"', South Auckland Courier, 20/5/1949, p. 5 (Manukau's Journey, Auckland Libraries)