The sun., 1898-01-23
NURSES ARE PROSPEROUS.
THEIR BUsIHEss GROWING BETTER
An TIE TINE.


Pispty Or work rsr Tsose whs Are Their
suGhiy Competent ana Have sun,e Reputa-
tisn - Tho Professions Overcrowdsa fsr
Thsss Whe Are Unshiirni or Net knewn.
The general condition OF nursing, as profes-
sion, soems never to have been 30 hourishing ne
IL 10 to-day. II has been said recently that the
business of trained nurses 10 very bad this WIN
tor because of two reasons, too little sickness
and too many nurses. The nurses themselves
are divided In opinion. Some say that IL was
never 30 good and others that 1t was never 30
bad, but tho majority are In high good humor
over their lot in life.
Miss vina ". Foote, who graduated from the
New York City Training School for Nurses in
1885, and was for several years very successful,
retired from public life somo time ago and 10
making u happy home for trained nurses at 1877
West Twenty.first street. About 100 nurses
are connected with this home, though over
half OF them arc not inmates, but board In the
immediate ncighborhood. For over two years
the Alumna Association Of tho New York City
Training School for Nurses held its monthly
meetings at Mics Foote'S, until the members
felt able to secure quarters Of their own, which
they now have In the Academy Of Medicine.
As q result Miss Foote's house, from tho day
she opened It, has been popular moeting place
for many of the best known trained nurses in
the city. Tho nurses who live there and who
drop in from day to day laugh at the mere sug-
gestion Of bad business.
Nurses in good standing always get plenty
to do and always will,' said Miss Forman,
President Of the Alumna Association and rosi-
dent Of the home. I'm this profession success
or failure is merely matter of the survival Of
the fttest, as 1t is in the medical profession,
law or anything else. 1t Ii said that thore are
10000 trained nurses in New York city, and q
great many Of them are probably having hard
time Of It this winter, but that isn't tho fault
of tho times. A great many of these nurses
arc graduates from private sanitariums or they
have been working with some doctor for
while and are not trained to do general nursing.
In the average private sanitarium the nurse
gets only one run Of cases. She secures
tiicate and starts out to do general nursing.
She is practically ignorant In all branches, ex-
cept the one studied In the sanitarum. Is It
any wonder, then that she fails as trained
nurse, that she is often out Of employment
Then, too, women hear Of the good prices
paid for nursing in New York, and trained
nurses come here from nearly all parts of the
world. Many of them are undoubtedly fine
nurses and prepared to do good work, but they
come without recommendations, are not known,
have no standing, and consequently receive no
calls. A great many nurses have come here
recently from Canada, England, and smaller
places in tho United States. They hear that
nurses here make S25 week, and do not re-
alze that they would be bettor off to stay where
thoy are at $l5 o week and that they would
have just as much at the end Of the year. This
overcrowds the profession. and consequently
many have to go out Of New York to make a
living or else rise above this condition.
There is great advantage in nurses living
49,
can then carry on constant exchange Of calls.
Suppose q doctor sends to Miss Foote for cor
tain nurse whom he knows and she is out on a
case. Miss Foote: gives the call to one of the
nurses friends who is idle, and the doctor does
not have to secure O perfectly strange nurse.
He knows that he has secured q woman Of good
standing and Of about equal capabilities Of the
one he wanted and couldn't get. Last year
1858 calls came to the nurses in this house
alone, and we arc not o large family. Many Of
the nurses here at the end of tho year had saved
over $1,000 above all their expenses, and you
sec for yourself that we live and dress WELL"
I'VE have to live well and dress well, put in
Miss Josephine Foote, a successful nurse.
"Most trained nurses come from refined homes
and they cannot and will not live in tenements
and cheap boarding houses. Then 1t pays us in
the long run to dress WELL just as 1t does women
In any other business"
"Wben people think you are successful they
boost you" interrupted Miss Forman. "Ifthey
think yon are up they push you up q little fur.
but Ms thsy saoys S
in good standingl'' asked the reporter.
Forman, and nurses who have been thor.
oughly trained and who are known haven't the
slightest trouble In commanding that and even
mn A at-Clu
answer call for less than that. OF course
women won Just starting M ont In st tie profession
not experienced ones We would remain idle
or give our Services to charity nursing before we
"This talk about prices having been severely
cut is all bosh and nonsense, and was probably
started BY incompetent nurses or those coming
not being known, failed to get the prices they
expected, and have boen forced 70 take any
nurses will not do charity work in brownstone
and Ts se w not RIes a
charity work and that OF the trained nurse are
two, very different things. A physician may at
and yet make $50. Sloo, or even 5000 that same
day, while Il a nurse gives her services to some
Sns G G ss hs o oSh o
profession" continued Miss Forman, lis that
women for q long time had notion that any
nurse. Hundreds Of them didn't stop to con-
slider that one must have natural qualifications
for the business. but rushed into sanitariums
and training schools. First and foremost, the
nurse must be agood oil can: BY that mean that
she must be able to smooth out the machinery
Of an entire household, where she goes to take
along without friction. 1t isn't the real nursing
that is 80 wearing on q trained nurse, and II
isn't the patient who usually gives her trouble.
The well members Of the family do that, But
We have several hundred members In our
Alumne Association, and I'm sure that they will
all concur with me In the opinion that the
nursing business is better now than 1t ever was
before, Miss Foote can tell you about the other
natural qualifications a nurse should have"
~ Tact Is the principal thing necessary" said
Miss Foote, taking up the conversation quito
readily. "and then comes a pleasant manner.
No woman who is without great perceptiye
ability should undertake nursing for, as Miss
Forman was saying, she not only has to deal
with her case, but with the entire family and in
addition to this. has to keep the cook, butler,
and maids smoothed down, though as rule.
tesy from servants. A good appearance and
youth go long way toward helping nurse
she ought to be well informed for she pos