Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-05-30
GRADUATION Of NURSES.
Continued from Page One.)

There are nine pupil nurses in the
training school, the place of each
graduate being taken by the senior
nurses and probationers being added
to fill the vacancies.
We now come to the opportunities
offered by the present day modern
hospitals of the land. The hospital
must care for both the sick and the
injured presented to it-both charity
cases and those able to pay for its
services. To the latter because they
will receive better care than at home,
unless it is possible to fit up some por-
ton of the house as a hospital, with
physicians and nurses in constant at
tendance, which is only possible for
the very rich, at best, and does not
| touch that large class of salaried peo
pie which must be restored to health
! as soon as possible and the home
brought back to its usual course be-
fore the carefully saved rainy day"
sum is used up, and for which class
the hospital is a necessity, living as
it does in small roomed flats where
any added burden, such as sickness,
would be impossible.
The other class, the charity patients,
their treatment is the real guage of
the time, culture, refinement and
Christian brotherhood of community.
Some one would quote "The poor we
have always with you," and believes
that any aid given this class tends
10 pauperiZe, but undoubtedly the
modern hospital points out the fact
that unless the destitute sick one is
| cured OF, at least, helped, he becomes
a public burden, hindrance, instead
of a help to the community. Besides
the direct care of the hospital pa
tient there is the opportunity of train
ing nurses. No longer are our schools
for nurses considered merely as an
aid in the immediate care of the hos
pital sick, but they now have their
place among the necessary education
al institutions of the country. They
must reach a certain standard pre-
scribed by the State law, They must
have certain curriculum. The "Sa-
rah Camp" type of woman has been
af1,, r,el,
ton. The nurse goes forth from her
hospital very missionary preaching
The gospel of cleanliness, purity and
health. She is no longer a makeshift
to be had when you can do no better,
nor is she luxury for the rich. She
is a professional woman-a necessity.
She has many positions open to her
which the unframed and uneducated
:annot fill. She is employed by school
boards in Summaries, Colleges, by
public school boards, by cities as sam
ltary inspector Of tencmcnt., apart
ments and factories. In social service
work, district nursing, and in many
other fields. She is essentially an
educator. She is to give in every
home, the high and the low, into which
she may be called, the benefit of her
knowledge and training. From these
schools have gone forth some of the
most magnificent women the world
has ever produced, foremost among
them the beloved Florence Nightin-
gale.
1t has been truly said that from an
economic and social standpoint Of
view, the hospital is as necessary as
he bakeshop, the grocery, the tailor
shop and the theatre. 1t supplies at
minimum expense, within the reach
of all, the maximum of skill in care
of the sick and injured. Sicknesses
are inevitable, through emergencies
in every household and in the life of
every individual. A good hospital al
lows the standard of life in the COM
munity to rise, at least in the matter
If medical service, to maximum lev
j. The manual tradesman, at a mod
crate wage, may have as prompt, eff
ective, skillful and even luxurious
medical and surgical services as the
oloated bondholder. The house may
oe smaller if the births, sickness and
surgical operations are provided for
1t the hospital. The wages may be
'educed, and yet the standard of life
"emains the same, or even raised.
From an economic point Of view, a
| modern hospital is success. 1t is
'eady, quick and cheap.
! And as such, the community has a
| lefinite part to fulfill in its support,
| lot merely financial but moral as well.
| There is also a large debt owing the
l iospitals of the country for the aid