Arizona republican., 1898-05-12
WORK OF THE ARMY NURSE.


 WORK OF THE ARMY NURSE. Much Training Needed and Calls For Her Services.
 New York, May 1.-The army nurse has no sinecure. Contrary to the no- tion of the average woman, she plays no part on the field of battle, but. on the other hand, her work does not consist in stroking the brow Of this to that one, and reading a little love ditty to a third. Along with hum dreds of thoroughly trained, expert enced nurses a great number of un- trained women-including some of those women who are always on the lookout for some new sensation-are anxious to do army nursing if the ne- cessity arises. The less thoughtful go even further and hope that the neces- sity will arise. They will dream what it is to care for sick or sorely wounded soldiers in a strange and trying cli- mate. Dr. George F. Shrady knows thing or two about the army nurse worth knowing. He served as a sur geon throughout the civil war and knows just what training is required to make q successful nurse, what the nurse actually doss in the field, and what are the dangers of the work. "There's all the difference in the world between civil and military nurs- ing" he said when questioned. Tn opo ITO hove al fho rnn6pYn annJiancoS and conveniencss, and in the other none of them. The young woman who has the ability to make the best of her surroundings is, therefore, the one best suited to become an army nurse. It's the old story of mixing one's color with brains. An army nurse should be an extraordinary wo- man in many ways. I say woman purposely, for woman is the natural nurse The mother instinct, the moth CT heart in her fits her pre-eminently for caring for the sick, the wounded, the troubled, the hopeless. The wo- men of all nations are the same, kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings. This cannot be said for the men, and so we shall not consider them as nurses. Yes, the military nurse must
 
 should be uncommonly strong physi- ca1ly, able to endure privation and hardship; she should possess a vast amount of womanly dignity, able to hold herself above her patients and yet caring for their hearts and minds as well as their bodies, and she should be schooled to obey orders without asking questions.
 1{~vsI -Srarr !, spells a person for emergency work. In our up-to-date hospitals we have everything in the way of appliances and instruments, and a nurse. with these always at her hand, learns tos depend on them, and consequently would find it hard to use the meagre appliances at hand on a battle field It isn't SO much special training that a woman needs as Quick-wittednes and adaptability.
 "It is amusing to hear what the av- craze woman thinks the nurse ac- tually does in the field To hear her talk, cne would think that the nurses went to the front of the line and set themselves up as targets for the en- emy. As a cold matter of fact, fe- male nurses are not allowed on the field even immediately after a battle except in rare cases, much less while it is being fought. The nurses are generally stationed we'll in the back ground. The wounded, as fast as they fall, are, if possible, carried to the rear, where the hospital flag, that sacred yellow emblem, is run up. There they are safe from the enemys shots. The enemy always respects the hos pital flag. It is a violation of the ar ticles of war to fire upon it; it is more, it is a cowardly act, for that would be fighting the helpless.
 Everything is in great confusion immediately after battle. The wounded are looked after before any Hhing else is done. Humanity and necessity both demand that this should be so. Ot course, no one can tell how things will be in this war, but in the civil war there was not a great deal of work for the female nurse imme- diately after a battle. Nurses are more skilled today, better fitted to as- sist surgeons and physicians, and they may have plenty to do while a battle is in progress or as soon as it is end ed, for all we know. But formerly their work came after the patients had been removed to a hospital. Oh, I've seen many woman go into the army nurse and come out an angel!
 During the late war the nurses were supplied by the sanitary commis- sion. Hundreds of Sisters of Charity volunteered and they made the most excellent nurses that we had That was natural, because they were train ed to discipline, to respect authority. not to question the reasons for orders, and they were inured to hardship and privation. It is all foolishness for a girl or a woman to think that she can jump out of fashionable life and go to nursing. We might as we'll take a raw recruit and say, Here, we'll make veteran of you at once.' Train ed nurses have 1essened mortality all most beyond belief in civil and mill tary hospitals. Too much cannot be said for the trained nurse and too much importance cannot be attached to se- curing properly trained nurses to go