The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1907-06-13

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women before her. she went forth
to the great battle with death in the
hospitals, taking with her to the
Crimea SO women. of whom is were
sisters of catholic or protestant or
ders Other nurses joined her later
This war gave a great stimulus 10
the idea OF training nurses. and II
ultimately led to the introduction into
the British army of a regular corps OF
women nurses. These sisters, as
they are 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 woman superintendent OF Netfey
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 70, of whom Ga
were 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 s
corps of reserve sisters. although ap
pointments to il were unfortunately
not under the control OF the war of
fee AS the nursing sisters of 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 investga-
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,
large number of women 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 tc
an end at the close of the war. A
vast amount of good was done by
these women individually. but there
was no lasting effect on the arm,
itself.
In 1887 congress authorized the en-
: listment of men in what is named
|, the hospital corps for the purpose o
serving as nurses and attendants IL
army hospitals and camps and oil
the field of battle. This corps Is com
posed OF privates. who are the prae
. teal equivalents of undergraduate
= nurses In the civil hospitals and o
. stewards and acting stewards, VIII
are virtually graduate nurses. At tn
+ outbreak of the Spanish war Their
were 1913 men in the hospital corps.
number barely adequate for an arm
of $4,000 men in time of peace, bu
OF course, wholly inadequate in tim
y OF war for an army 10 times that size
Although effort was made to suppl
. the deficiency as far as practicable b
II transfers of men from the regiment:
there arose in the summer of 1898
great need for trained nurses to car
J for the vast number of seriously sic
l. men. AS nursing has always bee
u essentially a woman's work ii becam
Ii necessary to send great numbers {
d women to our army camps and hosp
y tails.
Il Had such an emergency arisen In
= continental country its governmeI
= would have called upon those aid $
cieties which had organized an
" equipped themselves for such wor
~ and which were officially recognize
II by being placed under the control
IL a government officer. Some of the:
organizations abroad are religious
d character and some of the others a.
ri allied with the International Comm
IL tee for the Relief of Wounded in Wa
a which meets at Berne. Switzerlan
e and which committee is here col
lie monty. but enormously, spoken OF
he an international Red Cross societ
III In time of war these various of CT
as aid societies are told where their ne
ne will be expected and among 9th
IL things how many nurses they will
ct called upon to supply for the COVER
Vi ment
al
of