El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-22

the organizations of visiting nurses
although their work is done so quietly
and unOstentatOusly that few have
/ any idea Of its scope or extent
I Nhlle the visiting nurse first comes
! into a family for the purpose of aiding
IN an emergency of illness, her help
I IulHeSS may not end there. Her in
/ Iuence IS always toward better social
conditions, more comfortable home life
! and a great degree of happiness for
/ each member of the family Because
| she is usually closely in touch with
I every other philanthrOpic institution
/ in her locality, she can give indirect
aid through great variety of chan
I nels- The establishment of the chill
/ drenS bureau was first conceived in
/ the mind of a visiting nurse who felt
J the necessity of securing a greater
/ knowledge Of the needs OF little folks
/ Of every class. The great crusade
against infant mortality. which is now
/ sweeping over the country, really be-
| gan with the reports made by visiting
( nurses and the same thing might be
/ said regarding the antituberculosis
/ work which is now so we'll under way
I Florence Nightingale Started Work.
The history of visiting nurses may
| be said to begin with the work Of
Florence Nightingale, who first dem
onstrated the Importance of women
being trained and qualified for nurs-
ing the sick and teaching the COM
munity the value of hygiene. Her
work was directed to war, hospital
and institutional nursing, but William
RathbOne, of Liverpool England in
augurated, in 1859 the movement for
utilizing the services of the trained
visiting nurse in the home of the sick
poor, and since then it has been put
into practical effect in every civilized
country One of the events connected
with queen VictOria's jubilee celebra-
tion was the erection of an institute
Tor the training of nurses, which is
still recognized as the most important
institution Of the kind in Europe. The
5Oth anniversary Of the establishment
of visiting nurses in England was Gel
ebrated with much ceremony in 1909,
many delegates and visitors from
America. being in attendance.
L. 5. Adopted Plan in 1877.
The movement for visiting nurses
did not become firmly established in
the United States until 1877, when the
WOmen's branch of the New York City
Mission sent the first trained nurse
into the hOnes OF the sick poor. TWO
years later the Society for Ethical Cul-
ture placed nurse for similar work
in one of the New York city dfspen-
sarles- For years the growth of the
movement in this country was slow
and II was not until the '9Os that any
great interest was manifest excepting
in two or three of the larger cities
In 1880 there were only q visiting
nurse associations in the United
states. Most of them employed only
one nurse. Now there are nearly 500
organizations with more than 1900 reg
ular salaried nurses. in addition to a
large number of pupil nurses from
different hospitals who include visit
ing work as part of their course OF
instruction
The economy Of caring for many
classes Of patients in their own homes
instead Of in hospitals. appeals in a
practical manner to every worker en-
gagged IN the distribution of charitable
oil
inadequate to the demand made upon
II by patients who, in most cases. could
not be treated at home, and the eX-
pense OF caring for them there is much
greater whether it is borne by the
family Of the patient OF by the public
charities. In addition TO this there
are many patients for whom skilled
care is absolutely needed who from
prejudice or other causes are unWill-
ing TO go to hospitals, although they
are perfectly willing to receive treat
ment from a nurse in their own homes.
Must Possess Tact.
In addition to her hospital training,
" nlcn must be as complete as pos
siDle, the visiting nurse must possess /
tact and discretion. as well as a talent
for winning confidence. which is not
so essential to one whose patients are
composed Of the class who are able to
command the attendance of the nurse
continually in their own homes The
visiting nurse must work to keep up
the health standard of her district and
she must be continually on the alert
to discover cases Of sickness requiring
her care, which AZ the beginning may
not come to her as promptly as when
the value OF her services is recOg- !
nized. At the beginning it was custom
airy in many organizations for the
nurse not to respond to any call with
out written request or order from a
doctor, but as the work has brOadened I
this restriction has been almost Oblit-
nurse who influences the patient to
call the doctor as il is the doctor who /
secures the nurse.
While it is intended that the SER
vices of the visiting nurse shall be I
free at all times to those who are not I
able to pay. the movement has none OF 4
the pauperizing tendency that tends to I
lower the self respect of the recipient. |
A family may pay for the services OF /
a visiting nurse in proportion to the 7
time she spends with her patient and !
MS condition, the usual fees being from !
10 to % cents for each visit this sum I
being considered a fair percentage OF !
the average labOring mans income to /
be used for this purpose.
Instruction for Mothers.
Next to the actual care of the pa
tent the duty of the visiting nurse is
to instruct the mother in the home
how to care for the sick herself. In
this way a patient in a prolonged i'll
ness may be well taken care of il the
visiting nurse comes once or twice Q
lay and arranees the bed and gives the
special treatment required. the re-
nursing being given by some I
member Of the family under her di-
rection. The instruction given may
include preparation of food as we'll as
hygiene and nursing so that it has a !
most important value to the entire
family 1t makes no difference to the I
nurse, however. whether the family Z
pays any fee for her services or not. I
Her obligation to them is just the
same. Each visiting nurse is paid a
regular salary and the fees she re-
,eives are either turned into the treas
Try of the organization or used for an
emergency fund.
There is great difference of opinion
-cgarding the value of a uniform for
4 visiting nurse, so this matter is left
n the hands of the different Organiza-
ions. Usually the nurse prefers to
wear the uniform of the school from
which she graduated. with a long dark
loak to cover il when upon the street
others prefer simple dress of some |
lark wooden material. Usually the
listing nurses live at a home prOvid-
I'd by the organizations employing
hem and the salaries for a graduate I
Nurse range from about S45 to 500 a
month, usually with months Vaca- [
ion each year and a half holiday each
week. 1t is generally arranged only
o attend to emergency cases on Sun |
H D