The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-04-14
WOMEN WILL SERVE COUNTRY
AS WELL AS MEN.

The women of the country are
awakening to the fact that the time
may be neal at hand when the Unit
ed States may need their services,
as well as those of the e Rela-
lively speaking so few are qualified
to act as nurses. The great majority
find themselves merely with the desire
to serve with no means of fulfilling it.
Recognizing this the Red Cross offers
several courses to women who wish
to qualify as nurses assistants in
time of war, and it is proposed to or
ganize a class of Greenwood women
who will be willing to offer their ser
vices in a base hospital should the need
arise.
Each of the Red Cross courses has
the added value If giving the student
information of much value in the home
and the woman who completes n or
more of these lines of study will find
that she has added materially to her
knowledge of sanitation and hygiene,
SO that whether war comes or not she
will be a better housewife, a more in
telligent mother and a better citizen
for having the course. The prospect
uses of four courses has been received
here, one from the Bureau of Medical
Service, Department of Military Re.
lief Of the Red Cross and the other
two from the Bureau Service Of the
Red Cross. The first mentioned is a
First Aid course and is explained by
this paragraph in the prospectus
First Aid classes for women are only
intended to teach them what they can
do when accidents and sudden illnesses
occur in their own homes, or else.
where, and are not, except that they
will have added materially to their
general information, expected to, or to
be accepted, as qualifying them for
service with the Red Cross in the time
of war. However, when selecting
women for assignment to duty as
Nurses Aids with Red Cross hospital
units, preference will usually be CIV
en- to those who hold Red Cross GER
t~iicates of proficiency in First Aid to
the injured in addition to courses un-
der the Department of Instruction for
Women"
The other three courses, n in ele-
mentary hygiene and home care of
the sick, a second in home dietetics
and the last in preparation Of surgical
dressings are more important than the
first. Elementary hygiene and Home
Care Of the sick is to be regarded as
preparation for service in connection
with the base hospital units now be-
ing organized by the Red Cross for
service in the event Of war. In select
ing women for such service the pref
erence will be given to thosse who
have had not only a course in Elemen-
tary Hygiene and Home Care of the
Sick, but also the other courses Of in
struction offered including the first
and those selected by the Chief Nurse
Of a hospital unit for service will be
designated as Volunteer Nurses Aids
and their services will be similar to
that. of the Volunteer Aid Detach-
ment, affectionately known throughout
the army Of the Allies by both the
British Tommy and the French poilu
as the v. A. DIS.
When called into service the Volun-
teer Nurses Aids will be under the
direction Of the Chief Of the base hos
pital Unit who is necessarily a Red
Cross nurse. They erve. without pay,
but may be furnished transportation,
lodging and subsistence. The Red
Cross course Of instruction forms a
convenient selection and classification
Of women for service in convalescent
hospitals Of surgical supplies, cleri-
cal work and in the training Of those
who have become unfit for their usual
OCCUPATIONS through blindness loss of
limbs, etc.
A chapter Of the American Red
Cross Society was organized here
Tuesday afternoon which action by
he ladies' Of the city is to be commend
ed. They have entered heartily into
the work not only here but all yer
the state and Union and their efforts
will be Of much avail. Over seventy
members were signed up at the meet
ing Tuesday and the committees sent
out from that meeting to secure 9TH
er memberships are receiving every
encouragement and report much sue
cess. Practically everyone approach
ID by the committees places
nis or her name on the list. By the
md Of the week II ID expected that
,irtoaily everyone in town will belong
~ pAd Cr0sA.