Post by lauren on Aug 14, 2008 17:51:24 GMT -6
Hello,
I'm currently writing an essay about Maori health in NZ and I came across several mentions of Miss Robina T Cameron.
She was born in Edinburgh on April 15th 1892 and her family moved to NZ 1911 where she trained to be a nurse.
During the first world war she worked in Egypt and Palestine where she was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her efforts. She then moved back to NZ where she worked as a district nurse in Rotorua. She became known as the "little woman in the Model T Ford" and made it her mission to improve the health particularly of maori women and children, while insisting that Maori and Pakeha (white people) work together and preserve the maori cultures and traditions.
This saw the beginning of the Women's Health League or Te ropu o te ora with Nurse Cameron as president. She was affectionately known as "Kamerana" and Rangitiaria Dennan remembered that she possessed the "knack of getting her message across" (sounds like a Cameron trait), and also she had "the gift of inspiring confidence and co-operation".
Robina Cameron died in 1971 and in 1986 the Nurse Cameron Memorial Health Centre was opened in her honour.
I wanted to share some of her story because I thought she did so much for maori health in NZ (because of her, Typhoid was wiped out completely and maternal and infant death rates dropped significantly) and it's a shame she's been forgotten about - I've lived here for 20 years and never heard of her! Also since I am studying to become a nurse I found her to be very inspiring.
P.s I got this information courtesy of Alexandra McKegg on www.dnzb.govt.nz
I'm currently writing an essay about Maori health in NZ and I came across several mentions of Miss Robina T Cameron.
She was born in Edinburgh on April 15th 1892 and her family moved to NZ 1911 where she trained to be a nurse.
During the first world war she worked in Egypt and Palestine where she was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her efforts. She then moved back to NZ where she worked as a district nurse in Rotorua. She became known as the "little woman in the Model T Ford" and made it her mission to improve the health particularly of maori women and children, while insisting that Maori and Pakeha (white people) work together and preserve the maori cultures and traditions.
This saw the beginning of the Women's Health League or Te ropu o te ora with Nurse Cameron as president. She was affectionately known as "Kamerana" and Rangitiaria Dennan remembered that she possessed the "knack of getting her message across" (sounds like a Cameron trait), and also she had "the gift of inspiring confidence and co-operation".
Robina Cameron died in 1971 and in 1986 the Nurse Cameron Memorial Health Centre was opened in her honour.
I wanted to share some of her story because I thought she did so much for maori health in NZ (because of her, Typhoid was wiped out completely and maternal and infant death rates dropped significantly) and it's a shame she's been forgotten about - I've lived here for 20 years and never heard of her! Also since I am studying to become a nurse I found her to be very inspiring.
P.s I got this information courtesy of Alexandra McKegg on www.dnzb.govt.nz
