Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-08
THE INSTRUCTIVE VISITING
NURSE SOCIETY: AND
IT'S WORK

nn- VERIFYING you ever saw.
COlln or heard Of trained nurse
doing. these nurses do, and
IL then some This phrase,
slangy but true, was used by a Wash
ington man recently in describing to
friend who had never heard of the or
ganization the work Of the Instructive
Visiting Nurse Society.
The title of the organization. which is
represented in a number Of the larger
American cities in addition to Washing
ton. Is itself absolutely descriptive
They visit. they instruct and they nurse.
The hospital in which they work is the
city. with it's limits for walls and the
homes of all its inhabitants for wards.
Down in "Foggy Bottom" as 1t is still
often called. in q big. rambling. century
street northwest. to be more exact. live
the sixteen graduate nurses who COM
pose the STAFF. OF the Washington society
and who labor from almost daylight un-
til dark among the people of the District
of all ages, both sexes and all coicrs.
They are headed by Miss Elizabeth g.
Fox, a graduate of Johns Hopkins Hos
pital, and their home IS provided and
ty itself, which is composed Of WASH
ington women.
Not only hundreds. but thousands OF
washingtonians get all the nursing they
ever receive from this staff, and. what
is more. they pay for 1t II they possibly
can. Sometimes it is only dime; some
times half dollar. the latter sum really
covering the cost of nurses visit.
Those who cannot pay, however. are
cared for just as well and Just as
gladly.
There are persons, such as teachers
and clerks, who have to be away all
day and who have dependent on them
elderly invalid relatives who are con-
fined to the house and who need a daily
bath or an alcohol rub. Servants get
sick and an occasional professional
visit hastens their convalescence. In
such cases the visiting nurse performs
q service alike to employe and employer
in a manner convenient to the household.
and at a nominal cost. There are shy
and sensitive people who do not wish to
Intern" in institutions. and do not WANT
to be the beneficiaries of pure charity.
Their self-respect Is preserved and their
bodies receive proper care through the
small payments made to the visiting
nurse.
Such cases, however, are the bright
spots" in the work of the average
nurse. Most of their work is with the
very poor. and much of it is along pre-
yentive lines, and, therefore. essential
ly constructive. They teach (and show
over and over again) ignorant mothers
what to do for their families. Grabbed
age and youth cannot live together.
runs the old poem. but they do 1t. just
the same, and in surprisingly close
quarters. too. And the visiting nurse.
by combating lack Of sanitation and
Ventilation, prejudice. superstition and
Indifference. makes the living for both
good deal easier.
AS for babies. the nurses just revel
fr,
the uniformed porters on the platform
when the baby special pulls in. There
is one nurse who has cared for every
one of family of six children at birth,
not to mention the prenatal and post
natal care given the mother. Babies,
either just arrived or showing a tend
ency to depart, make up nearly one.
third of the patients of the society's
nurses
A woman who was interested in the
work and was particularly anxious for
details was advised to put In day"
with one of these nurses as the very
best means of familiarizing herself
with the sort of thing they were doing.
! Here is brief and sketchy outline OF
The days proceedings. which left her,
unused to that sort of thing, SO COM
pletely tagged out that she had just
energy enough to write a. generous
check for the cause before seeking her
pillow
The two women left about o'clock
am. for their rounds. Patient No. 1
was woman confined to her bed by Sc
we're nervous exhaustion. for which
there was more than sufficient reason.
and with four young children running
wild The visitor helped in this howell
by braiding the pigtails of the little
girls after the nurse had helped them
wash and dress and prepare breakfast.
besides bathing and making the bed OF
the sick mother.
The next case had been ordered to a
hospital by the physician, for the
nurses work in close cooperation with
big-hearted doctors. The visit. there
fore. was brief. Third. came a "baby
: case, both mother and child receiving
sarlea ana careful attentions. No. 4
was young man. PROSTATE with ty-
phoid, his sister being also an invalid
and his mother making things as hard
as possible Tor the nurse, her attitude
DelnS summed up in the constantly
repeated phrase. TOO much trouble"
no Was a case of severe liberation
OF the leg, needing much dressing and
skilled treatment No. was another
baby case: No tubercular patient.
the last of family of ten who had ali
died of the same disease; No. s was a
young married woman with insura BILE
spinal trouble. which needed a specified
ana tedious massage treatment; No. 3
was one-day-old twins, both doing
wen, thank you. and the homeward
journey was commenced just as the fac
Tory whistles were blowing. The nurse,
by the way, went home to make out
reports and statements for physicians.
to list new calls. locate obscure streets
and arrange for loans of linen from the
Society's loan closet"
Certainly large number of the read
ers of The Star have had a trained nurse.
They can recall distinctly the feeling Of
dependence they had on her. the sense
of security because she was in the house
and subject to instant call. They can
reeollect how confidently they looked
forward to her entrance, fresh, cool
and immaculate. when they woke in the
morning, that time of all the invalid's
day which Is apt to be the most de-
pressing and most appreciative of sery-
ices rendered. And they can recoIlect
bow they missed her when her "off
hours came. usually in mdafternoon
NO matter how thoughtful and atten-
tive the family or friends 1t seemed as
II. during that well earned rest period.
something always happened to make
her presence extremely desirable. il
not essential. They missed the nurse s
ability to do with precision and dis
patch certain things that to others.
were either impossibilities or imposi-
tions.
Now. If the Imagination be called into
play. and the hours off" could become
the hours on, well. that's the way the
patients of the !. V, N S. look forward
3 TO the calls of the visiting nurse. Their
york is war work as well as peace
work. for they help conserve the man
end woman ppwer of tho n;xfryot I.nd