New-York tribune., 1908-08-09
PANAMA NURSES
Some Hare Seen Service in Cuba
and Japan.

Nursing is hard work and or less dangerous
work under any circumstances and in any place
Whae must 1t be. then. along the Panama Canal.
where accidents many and the maladies are
swift and deadly?
Nevertheless nearly two hundred women find
nursing in the canal occupation worth fol-
lowing, and most Of them are so devoted to the
work that they say they would not give 1t UP.
Some of them got the habit through hard war ser
vice in Japan and Cuba. Nine of the two hun
dred were all through the Spanish-American War
Several who Red Cross nurses went to japan
in 1904 and decorated by the Emperor of that
country for their services One. Hiss Cook, who
with the Japanese party married a visiting
physician in the after few months OF work
there II is trouble at all for a nurse to
win a husband it is said. which perhaps accounts
for the popularity of the service Still. there are
other ameliorations.
For one thing, the powers that be realize how
hard the work is. and everything is done 10 make
life pleasant possible to the nurses The sal
aries pretty good-s6O month for regular
ward nurse, and all expenses, board, lodging and
laundry After a time the nurse is promoted and
her salary is increased No nurse is on duty more
than four hours time. Rather a contrast to
the stretch of duty most hospital nurses
| in New York have every day.
The nurses home at Alcon, which place has the
largest hospital the ishmus is charminsly stu
ated. 1t is built the brow of a hill. and has
wide outlook the Pacific entrance to the canal
a
housekeeper who keeps things in beautiful order.
The bedrooms furnished according strict hos
! pital rules-high cots simple furniture and straw
| rugs which cleaned every day: but most of
| the girls have managed to make them cosey with
college flags and pictures eouches constructed out
OF steamer trunks and rugs and cushions and other
feminine devices.
The supervising nurses have their private sitting
rooms. where many parties are held on sun
| day afternoons. Afternoon tea is always served
for the nurses who off duty-served on one end
of the wide veranda. which is fitted up as an out
| door sitting There is a big indoor general
sitting room, too. where dances and informal en-
| tertainments held. Then there is a library of
about three hundred volumes-books on pbiosonb,-
/ and biology, Kant's works HaeckeI's Matthew Ar
| nold's. the poems CT Tennyson and Browning as
| well as lighter things in the way of current fctio,
| The nurses have time to play tennis ride horse
! back walk and dance most Of them have +b.i-
own private fads also such as the cultivation, of
| is ol rropical nowers' or making collections of
| one sort or another.
One great interest of the nurses ~ ~, r,,s
hospital is the big, beautiful garden Each ,,,rsa
mas d pIot' ana may ask the help of the gardener
III working IT, 1t is a charming garden with roses
galore and all kinds of tropical flowers az 1au a.
| vlolets and other of the hardy pIants of +sr,
perate chnes- 1t is a wonderful land for vines
| Ihey grow so fast that people with a liI.i,s To-
| variety are always pulling them up to try some
/ thing else" ~ '0e
| 4Ae tiIO nCSpltal, st. Thomas though
der commission control. with Colonel C,oreas az
chairman CT the governing beard is decidedly Ger
man IN atmosphere. The nurses are oro,v
VI Herman schwestern' from Hanover: FrauIain
; huise Brockemeyer. who with Colonel Corgas
IN Cuoa' Is at the head of st. Thomas Five of
these German nurses went and got ensaoed -
| young doctors socn after their arrival tberebv
| sending CONSERVATION to the heart of tho ,,na
! intendent Of St Thomas but 50 far none of +be,
| has deserted her post
There is good deal Of vfst+ipe ba..- -,
| nurses OF Ancon. Colon and St Thomas rbe,- 80
TIC recreation for he-work is exhausting and the
Fights they see are sad and bitter. Only women
suited to the work do it. and not q feu OF III.
nurses came because they felt it was their dutv
because experience In Cuba and the Philipnines
had Injured them TO tropical conditions and proved
| them adapted to the life. Most of them have
definite purpose that of studying tropical diseases
The zCne hospitals admirably fitted I'D and FIR
| nlshed with the most modern appliances There
Is saying that the French for their dead bur
that the Americans for their living Anvho1r
their hospitals are fuller than their cemeteries
down there.
The government sanatorium. on the sIard =,
Taboga. about ten miles from Panama IS the n1aca
7 where nurses as well as other employees are sent
| TO recuperate When a nurse needs Il rest and n
change she is detailed TO duty at the sanatori,,n,
| Three nurses are regularly in service here but
| there is no nursing here-the duties are merely
nominal Instead. there long excursions into
the interior Of the island, many are the nuaint
curios that are brought away from the native VII
lagos Altogether, II is a fe that has its attrac-
tons that of the in Panama
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