Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-12-27

ultimately led 10 the introduction Into
the British army Of a regular corps Of
women nurses. These sisters, az
they arc called, are Of course grad
yates Of hospital training schools and
their work consists essentially In the
supervision OF the nursing In large
hospitals where the details are car
ried out by men enlisted for the pur-
pose. In some respects the English
system Is well organized, as the rules
are explicit regarding increase OF pay
with length of service, with provision
for retirement and pensions. The most
important post in this service is that
of womau superintendent OF Netley
hospital, there being no woman at the
head OF all the nurses. There exists
also an Independent Indian nursing
service of secular sisters"
At the outbreak OF the South
African war the number OF English
sisters was fixed at rs, OF whom 81
we're employed in the British isles
and 16 at Gibraltar, Malta and Egypt.
In addition to this small number pro-
vided for peace times there was a
corps of reserve sisters, although ap-
pointments to it were unfortunately
not under the control OF the war OF
fee. AS the nursing sisters or the
reserves numbered only SO, hasty ap-
pointments were made, and some
women who were entirely Without
knowledge of a nurses duties sue
ceeded in obtaining appointments.
OF course the trained nurses who
were sent to the Transvaal worked
nobly and well, though the investiga-
ton of army hospitals has shown a
most distressing insuficfency in their
number.
The United States is looked to as a
country whose system Of women
nurses may, in many respects. be
used as an example.
Our nurse corps is a matter of quite
recent growth. There were, OF course,
a large number of employed
during the civil war, most OF them ap-
pointed by Miss Dorothea Lynde Dix,
who was then superintendent OF
women nurses, but their services, as
well as the work Of the helpers who
held no regular positions, came to
an end at the close of t2e a A
vast amount of good was done by
these women individually, but there
was no lasting effect on the army
itself.
In 1887 congress Nrizod the en-
listment of men In what is named
the hospital corps for the purpose OF
serving as nurses and atterVlants in
army hospitals and camps and on
the field of battle. This corps is com
posed of privates, who arc the prac-
teal equivalents Of undergraduate
nurses in the civil hospitals and OF
stewards and acting stewards, who
are virtually graduate nurses. At the
outbreak of the Spanish war there
were 723 men in the hospital corps, a
number barely adequate for an army
OF $4,000 men in time Of peace, but.
OF course, wholly inadequate in time
of war for an army 10 times that size.
Although effort was made to supply
the deficiency as far as practicable by
transfers Of men from the regiments,
there arose in the summer Of 1898 a
great need for trained nurses to care
for the vast number of seriously sick
men. AS nursing has always been
essentially a woman's work it became
necessary TO send great numbers of
women to our army camps and hospi-
tails.
Had such an emergency arisen in a
continental country its government
would have called upon those aid So
cieties which had organized and
equipped themselves fer such work
and which were officially recognized
by being placed under the control of
a government officer. Some or these
organizations abroad are religious in
character and some of the others are
allied with the international Commit.
tee for the Relief Of Wounded in War,
which meets at Berne, Switzerland,
and which committee is here com.
monty, but enormously, spoken OF as
an international Red Cross society.
In time Of wa these various official
aid societies are told where their nelp
will be expected and among other
things how many nurses they will be
called upoa to supply for the govern
ment.