The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-07-29
WORLDS FAIR CITY.
An Important Institution of the
Great Metropolis
The Illinois Training school for Nurses
and the Good 1t AccompIishes-
Fireproof Paint That Was
Genuine.
Especial chicago Correspondence.1

everyone blows his own horn because
no one else will do it for him, it is relief
to be able to point to a class of people
who work quietly and unassumingly,
whom none but the sick and the unfor-
tunate ever hear about or come in con
tact with: who, nevertheless, relieve
untold misery, save many lives and
make others,endurabl ble;'in short, do an
incalculable amount of good, and do it
ia such way as to touch everyone
where he is most tender. l have
in mind the trained nurses and espe-
cially those of the Illinois Training
School for Nurses. While | wish pros
perity to them / cannot conscientious
ly wish that they may have plenty of
work to do. Especially when fears are
beginning to be entertained that the
cholera may visit us again, such wish
would sound inhuman.
One cannot appreciate the benefits,
the rare comfort, that patient derives
from the attendance of trained nurse
unless one has been fortunate or un-
fortunate enough to be i'll and expert
ence it oneself. 1t is true that the
presence of friends or relatives is
agreeable during illness at times. But
only at times. In most cases it does
more harm than good. What a patient
wants above all, generally, is rest
Many patient has suffered from the
attentions of friends while wishing at
heart to be left alone to rest More
valuable, then, to the recovery and
comfort of patient is proper attend
ance. the ability of the attendant to
discern ones wants, which the patient
himself is often incapable of, that judg
ment which will indicate when rest is
needed and when the mental faculties
should be engaged. Some intelligent
appreciation of the physicians direc-
tions is also requisite.
How seldom do you find these qualifi-
cations in your own family! 1t is a
strange thing that even intelligent per-
sons of average education seem to lose
their reasoning powers when in the
presence of disease and doctor. They
either pay no attention to medical
direction or, on the other hand, carry it
out mechanically and without apparent
exertion of their understanding.
A physician of my acquaintance told
me sad instance of the latter frame
of mind. He was treating patient for
well, it is immaterial for what. The
patient had no rest for several nights.
So the physician prescribed an opiate
and left directions to give a certain
dose every hour until asleep, thinking
that sufficient direction. In the morn
ing he came back and found the patient
fast asleep and breathing heavily. He
tried to awaken him, but could not. He
called the two sons who had Eeen attend
ing the patient and asked them svhat
they had done. 1t appeared that they had
given the opiate, and, thinking the pa
tient had to take it every hour, awals-
eped him after he had gone to sleep, and
gave it to him, and, finally, they said,
they mad to work over him for long
time before they could wake him up
to make him take the med |
icine.
Then you have killed your father"
the physician said. And so it turned |
out to be.
The idea of love in cabin is pretty, |
but it takes something practical to live
on. So the idea of love at the bedside |
of the sick is very pretty, but it re-
quires something more practical. And |
it is this that the trained nurse supplies. |
do not mean to say that there is no |
love in their case. / imagine, rather, |
that IL requires Il considerable amount |
Of love of humanity to devote ones life
to that kind of service. But it is be-
cause of the need of knowledge and ex-
perience IN the attendant that empha-
size the word trained" nurse.
The Illinois Training School for Nurses
is an organization originally char
table, but taking small fee now for
Women and girls are
taken and have to pass through a
course of two years of study and p-ac-
tice. They are instructed in the ele-
ments of anatomy and medicine. path
ology, surgery, and the other branches
necessary for an intelligent compre-
hension of the nature of diseases.
OF course, they do not learn these
things so thoroughly as physician
would. They acquire a general knowl-
edge of them. And would like to add,
that general knowledge does not, if
impaired, mean a superficial
with great many details
Of a science. but, as John Stuart Mill
says, thorough knowledge of the gen.
eral principles of a science. Upon
the basis of these principles the
acquisition of the details becomes an
easy matter. But the greatest part of
the education of these trained nurses
IS the experience they get in treating
patients. The school has charge of
.welve wards in the Cook county hos
oital and entire charge of the nursing
n the Presbyterian hospital. Both
.hese institutions lie within a few
blocks of the home of the school. which
S located at No. 304 Honore street, near
Ogden avenue. Here the instruction is
given and many of the nurses live there
They are sent from there to the two
hospitals mentioned, where they nurse
he patients free OF charge. except
where one desires 4 special nurse. This
hey do for two years before they can
graduate.
The selections of pupils are made
with great care. They are not women
who simply Look for a means to support
Although the pay at pri-
rate houses is pretty good, from SIS
10 S25 a week. the work is hard and
wearing. IL requires constant atten-
ion and patience that will submit to
al the exactions and unreasOna-
DlenesS of the patient, coupled with
sufficient ii imness to control him,
and, on the other hand, 10
Keep down the well-intended but fool
sh attentions of relatives and friends.
rhe illinois Training School for