The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-06-15

| 4AO 4OAAdItAC yOuuS S1I4, u4II dAn- ed but thrilled with the desire for government hospital service, has learned that smiles and a sweet dispo sition alone are not so necessary to the conservation of the lives of "Our Boys as sound knowledge of asep- sis, the ability to recognize symptoms, and an understanding of dietetics ac cording to Mrs. L. s. Higbee, Chief of the Navy Nurse Corps at Washing ton, D. c. A sick man must be kept happy, she says, but there is no hap piness greater in illness than the se- | curity of expert care.
 "A girl may have fiickering dim pies in her cheeks and the features of a movie queen, she may be able to fluff up a pillow or write home to a mans family, but she must also know how to dress his wounds causing the minimum of pain, and must know how to move a fractured limb with out wrenching the newly set bones apart" is the statement of the Navy Nurse.
 'It is common knowledge today that the regulations for the appointment  the Navy have been considerably re- faxed to meet the emergency demand for thousands of nurses. Only grad uates of high schools and training schools attached to hospitals number ing more than 100 beds are eligible for the Regular Navy Nurse Corps. The bars have been let down enough to admit graduates of smaller insti- tutions and the educational restric- ton has been removed for the Re- serves but registration is retained in the requirements.
 "One might consider that the sick sailor is the sole responsibility of the member of the Navy Nurse Corps. No } indeed! Her work is limitless. She must be prepared to mother" the sick little native urchins on the tropical islands of the Pacific ocean and also to mother the parents who are nothing more than children of larger stature. She must be a trained exec utive able to instruct the sailors as- signed to the Navy Hospital Corps. In- exhaustible patience and tact are the priceless possessions of a teacher. The Navy nurse co-operates with the doc !, tors in transforming the sailor boy in- l to hospital attendant. Though her ) capable fingers may itch to finish the : task which the new student bungles . with his amateurish inexpertness she ] must stand by with only kindly sug- gestions.
 , "Wherever the United States through the medium of the Navy is
 managing the affairs of people the Navy nurse must establish herself. Her relation to the community is that
 of social service worker. In thatch- ed hut or temporary pavilion she or
 ganizes a training school for native
 girls. In Samoa there is such a
 school which enrolls pupils recom-
 mended by the English Missions
 These native nurses trained in Am
 erican ways are sent to the sick , throughout the island. Every six
 months they are required to return
 to the hospital and remain for half a
 ear lest by association they are tempt
 ed to slip away and become merged
 again with their own people, forget , ting the dictates of the doctors and
 the advices on sanitation"
 The first native woman's club in the Philippines was established by a Navy 7 Corps nurse more than two years ago . It has become an educational and so- cial center. This club opened clinics
 in Cavite, employing native nurses tc assist the doctor. The nurse must be t baby welfare expert. She usually plays very important part in the
 native fair by setting up miniature ' hospital exhibits in tent competing with the interest of the fakirs anC ! ballyhoos. Native nurses alternate in explaining to the public moderr
 methods of fighting germs.
 Because of this high standard re quired of the Navy nurse one mem
 Der of the Staff of the U. S. Maya ] Hospital in Guam is assigned to the | faculty of the Local Normal School There she teaches teachers the prin s ciples of public health. In the per e sonal letters received from the nurse by their chief, Mrs. L. S. Higbee, an ecdotes creep in between the officia ' statistics. One nurse with a rart
 sense of the ridiculous has written O ? the unusual night duty in the chil
 dren's ward in Guam. The native j. many of them have never seen a bed n They sleep on hard mats laid upol
 the bare floor. Some of these native ). have a superstitious fear of what ma,
 happen to their children within tn ). walls of the hospital. Because o n this fear and to engender confidenc
 the mothers are allowed to remail with their babies during the night
 The babies show a wonderful pref erence for the little white ename Il cribs, but the mothers hold firmly t
 their belief in the bare floor It i ., no uncommon occurrence for the na tive mothers to take advantage of tn
 momentary absence of the nurse t
 snatch her baby from the comfort o N a mattress and down pillow to lay tn poor youngster on the hard floor. Som
 children have the record of being S y whipped in and out of their beds ,4 dozen times during a single nigh z One word of tactless criticism and tn I native mother would take her chil F. away so the performance must b V good-naturedly tolerated until she un '. derstands what she considers the pc s- culiarity of hospital customs.
 B. This same hospital for the civilia
 was dedicated with vaudeville per D. formance. This delighted the native W who attended, and inspired an inter l. est in the new institution which wa v as great as the announcement of won 1- derful cures.
 r. Another nurse wrote from Samo al that the next door neighbors had bee
 friends of Robert Louis Stevenson.
 Soon two Navy nurses will be ser
 An EIniAi -ir,d InA