The Washington times., 1917-09-29
NURSES
Do THEIR BIT FOR
BABIES OF FRANCE

Four Washington women sailed last
week under the Red Cross standard to
do infant welfare work in France. Other
local women have gone and are going
with the base hospital units OF other
cities, and six, now In training in Wash
ington hospitals. are eagerly awaiting
word from the Red Cross headquarters
to leave with the Maryland base hos
pital OF Baltimore. which will sail in
a few months
THE demand for children's special
lists" cables Maj Grayson NJ T. Muir
ply. head Of the American Red Cross
commission in France. far exceeds ex-
pectations. The original unit is now
serving three different localities to meet
the urgent demands for help"
In response to the cable a third de-
nurses will be sent before the end Of
the month.
-Four Left Recently.
The four Washington nurses who left
an Atlantic port recently under the
head Of DIR. William r Lucas. professor
Of pediatrics in the University OF Cali
fornia and the originator of the save
a Belgian baby" movement, were Miss
Nora Melton. 50lS First street northwest:
Miss Addie Barton. Z956 X street north
west Miss Susane Hoskins. 1872 G street
northwest, and Miss Mary Culbertson.
The Victoria apartments.
Misses Barton. Melton. and Culbert-
son had been public health nurses for
the past year, each having from sixty
to seventy children whom they
called on Miss Hoskins had been in
the same line prior to her work at
the Homeopathic Hospital, where she
was superintendent OF nurses. Miss
Hosllins had her training in a New
Haven, Conn, hospital; Miss Melton
at Providence Hospital, and Misses
Barton and Culbertson at the HomeO-
pathic Hospital.
Miss Harvey Gone.
Miss Alice Harvey. sister of General
Harvey of the national guard, is
another woman well known in Wash
ington who has heard and needed the
cry of the French babies. She has
sailed with the Indianapolis base
hospital unit. Miss Harvey was in
charge of the obstetrical ward at Co
Iumbia Hospital in this city.
Miss Dora Krebs, 1928 Fifteenth
street northwest, will leave shortly
with the New Orleans unit. She is
graduate of the George Washington
University Hospital.
The six women who will leave with
the Maryland unit are Miss Freida
McNeIll and Miss Merle Kagey,. OF
Sibley Hospital: Miss Mary Graham
and Mrs. Mary GaIbally, OF George
town Hospital: Miss Jessie Hart. OF
GARFIELD Hospital, and Miss Ruby Ven
able. of Columbia and Children's Hos
pitfalls.
Are Anxious To Go.
NO one seems to know just how
anxious we are to get started. I do
wish they would hurry and send US
over there. The little French babies
need us now"
This opinion expressed by one nurse
is the sentiment OF the hve others
who are eagerly awaiting the word.
The Infant Welfare Unit now in
France was financed by Mrs. William
Lowell Putnam of Boston. Special
lists and experts in sociology from
all over the country are with the
unit.
The task before the Red Cross and
the Washington nurses, that go over
will be not only to cooperate with
the French specialists. but also to
carry on a general educational cam
paign among French mothers in the
interests of better parental hygiene
and the scientific care and feeding
of babies.
Fight TubercuIOsIs.
Special efforts are being made to
protect the children from tubercu-
losis infection, which is particularly
threatening France today as a result
OF the trench warfare.
The Red Cross will endeavor to de-
crease the present high death rate
among children under two years of
age which, with the falling birth
rate, threatens to depopulate the
country.
Aid being extended to the French
children by the Red Cross Commits
sion to France, is described in a
cablegram Just received by the Red
Cross War Council. which tells OF
the work OF the Children's Bureau.
Horrible Conditions.
AN appeal was received from
Nesle and the group OF villages in
the north and west. In response an
expert from the Children's Bureau.