Plunket Society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society is an incorporated society which provides a range of health services to healthy babies and young children. The Plunket Society direction is "to ensure that New Zealand children are among the healthiest in the world".
The society is most commonly referred to in the community as "Plunket".
[edit] History
The meeting which led to the foundation of the society was held on May 14, 1907 by Dr Frederick Truby King. King was a medical superintendent and lecturer in mental diseases. He believed that by providing support services to parents, the society could ensure children were fed on a nutritious diet, and therefore reduce child mortality rates. He also believed that this would improve adult health as the children got older.
Within a year, the society had first opened The Karitane Home For Babies in Dunedin, and then opened centres in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
The society got its name from Victoria Plunket, the wife of William Plunket (who was then the Governor of New Zealand). Victoria Plunket, a mother of eight, was an early patron of the Plunket society.
In 1912, King made a lecture tour on the Plunket Society. In these tours he was very successful in attracting support for the society, partly because he exaggerated the effect on infant mortality rates. As a result of his tour, 60 new centres opened around New Zealand, each employing a nurse.
