The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-18
HONORS TOP.H. NJ!
Public Health Nurse a Feature
of TOpeka's Pride.
Annual Meeting Will Be Held
Here Tonight.

Ever notice a little Olue-CtdQ NOLAAdAA
carving a small black satchel and
hurrying along some side street? On
the satcheI are the characters that
stand for her caIling-P. H N--but
few read them, or if they do, stop
long enough to think what the Initials
mean.
She is 4 Public Health Nurse She
is one of the thousands of quiet, eff
Gent. trained women scattered IN cit
les all over the civilized world who
are giving their lives to the conserva-
ton of public health
The Topeka Public Health Nursing
Association is simply a branch or
worldwide anization- 1t does a
work that was unthOught Of sixty
years ago. Public health did not
concern individuals a great deal that
long ago. Individuals were concerned
chiefly in individual health and the
health of the different members of
their families.
More than fifty years ago some one
living in LiverpooI-some public spir-
tied Derson-saw the need of nurses
among the sick poor, among the peo-
pie who were unable to employ them
He orga nized public spirited women
and the outgrowth was the division of
the city of Liverpool into districts with
committee of women in each dis
trict. Each committee assumed the
responsibility for nurses in its own
district
Many Duties for Them.
Within a short time the plan spread
all over England, then to this country
and the Public Health Nursing Asso-
citation is the American outgrowth of
the original Liverpool idea. The
nurses who are employed by the To-
peka association and all other associa-
tons must be equipped to handle any
kind Of 4 case, consequently must have
had experience and instruction before
they are employed
They do not merely nurse the sick
They do that. but they also teach the
well how to avoid sickness A single
nurse may handle a half dozen cases,
each of a different character, in one
day.
The first call of the morning may
be To humble home where a mother
a father or a child is suffering from
tuberculosis. 1t is the nurses bust
ness to inquire into the case and its
surroundings. If the surroundings
are not conducive to recovery, it is
her business to report the case in order
that the patient may be taken to tbs
tubercuIar hospital in Highland Park.
The next call may be upon some in
experienced young wife whose finan-
ciaI status may be such that she can
not employ a nurse for a coming Or
deal The public health nurse must
tell her all her mother has failed 70
tell her She must teach her how &c
care for herself.
If it happens that the baby is al
ready there the nurse must teach the
mother how to care for it, But first
the nurse must care for it. She must
see that every precautiOn is taken to
prevent blindness. She must see that
it has a fair start in life.
The nurse must teach children how
TO care for themselves and in families
where there are little mothers she
must teach them how to care for The
smaller children properly.
These are just a few instances of the
wide field covered by the Public
Health Nursing association 1t was
thru the association that the city made
Of the old detention hospital a tuber-
cuIar hospital 1t has been responsi-
BILE for a general Improvement in sani-
tary conditions IN Topeka and much
of the credit for the decreased death
cate is given to this organization by
rhe state board of health.
The association is maintained large
ly by memberships, active and sus-
tanning. There is always need for con-
tributions from public spirited people
They are welcomed by the association
and are used in business-ike and
efficient, as well as humanitarian
manner.
Annual Meeting Today.
The annual meeting of the Topeka
Public Health Nursing association will
be held at the Chamber of Commerce
this evening at o'clock
The Topeka men and women who