The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-10
FOR woRlne NURSES.

Who viii do the Work that the
Trained Nurse Shifts At.
when shall we have school for
working nurses?" asked the woman
who conducts one Of the high class
employment bureaus on the upper
West Side. Our telephone daily
brings urgent demand for nurses
who will MI the need arising from
the fact that the regular trained
nurse in charge absolutely refuses to
dust or sweep the room of the invalid
Even In houses where two SER
wants are kept q case of sudden i'll
ness doubles or trebles the usual
work below stairs. Sometimes in
such cases the nurse is asked to per-
form some slight service and she
replies that she cannot do mental la
Dor.
II am not questioning the rignt OF
the nurse to uphold whatever ethical
ideas she may have on the subject,
but l hope that someone will estnh-
lish a school wherc intelligent young
women may be trained to do nursing
In ordinary cases and also to help
out in the lighter work of the home.
Help of this kind is one great and
constant demand which we are un-
able to fll
In acute and dangerous cases the
care of an expert nurse in invaluable
but there are many simpler illnesses
where a nurse is required only TO
help out the members Of q house
hold. In such cases an intelligent,
neat, kindly woman can easily take
care of the patient and of the small
home, so far as the smaller tasks are
concerned. This work should be
worth from $40 to SIS a week.
There are at present no regular,
recommended nurses who will as
sumo the small duties of caring for
the sick room. In a desperate case
recently / telephoned to the Young
Women's Christian association, where
| understood they had nurses regis
tered. But when / mentioned the
item of light housework the young
who could FIJI such want.
Surely in these days when the or
dinary fields II womens work are so
overcrowded with applicants for jobs
which pay them less than $40 a
week without board there should be
plenty of intelligent young women
who would take up this new idea.
They could study regular nursing in
their leisure time and speedily equip
themselves for employment with
good salary, often long engagements
and almost invariably the kindest
treatment, for there is no time when
attention is appreciated more by
people than when there is illness In
the home.
II have heard that a progressive
Catholic clergyman in Brooklyn en-
deavored TO start such an order, pro
viding a home for young women
who had had some training and ex-
perience in the care of the sick.
They were also supposed to be will
ing to help in household work of the
lighter kind. They were TO get sic a
week and would supply the need OF
persons in moderate circumstances
who might not feet able to pay the
So a day OF the trained nurse.
But | understand from persons
who have employed such nurses that
they too have acquired the awful
dignity Of the trained nurse code and
will not take duster in hand or
wash a cup and s--.tr. - - mat
ter remains theoretical as yet.
II suppose the nurses have their
own side of the story, but 1t has al
ways seemed to me that the first
principle of their profession should
be usefulness; that they should con-
form to whatever conditions they
meet and as far as possible adapt
themselves to the needs of the home
in which they find themselves.
I'm selecting girls for the role of
working nurses great discrimination
would be necessary, for nurse must
have intelligence. kindness, self-con-
troll and patience She should be in
structed that her duty is TO make
things easy for those in the stlickens
home, not only the invalid, but every
one concerned New York Sun.