El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-05-13
Military Rank
VIII Be Asked
ByArmyNurSe
Petition To Secretary Baker
Is Prepared At Session
OF Convention.

4 q
ton Of rank for army nurses in the
Tuesday morning session Of the an
.nual convention OF the Graduate
Nurses association, It was brought out
that nurses were forced TO suffer in
dignities, inconvenience, i'll treat
ments and were at a great disadvan-
tage in doing the work in the bases
and other hospitals in France Their
orders were not obeyed and many
times wounded soldiers were caused
to suffer as a result
No Provision for Travel
As told by nurses who have recently
returned from France. no PROVISIONS
were made for them TO travel; they
were turned away from hotels because
they had no rank. American olLIcCIs
being allowed TO have comfortable
quarters while Oftentimes nurses had
to sleeD on straw in box cars on
benches in waiting rooms ana on mat
tresses on warehouse floors In the
she started home from France, she
could not get her baggage loaded ana
had TO put 10 on the shift herself IN
order that IL be taken 10 the boat
on Par with Private.
Miss Ruth Hills. who served a year
IN Italy. told how. when going across,
the boat was too small 70 furnish first
class apartments for both army Off
GERS and nurses and how many of the
nurses were forced TO stay In the
steeraEe where plumbing conditions
were very poor. When some Of them
became very i'll and secured the use Of
officers apartments. where they could
be better AIRED for. they learned that
the officers were i'll pleased with haN-
ing had TO give up their comforts and
as a result, the i'll nurses returned 10
the steerage for the remainder OF the
journey. and in some cases, secured /
permi SSlon TO sleep on deck where
they had only their issue Red Cross
blanket TO serve for both bed and
cover Miss Hills also declared that
the nurse in italy was on par with
the private in the army.
Want Rank for Nurses.
Following the discussions. set OF
resolutions relative TO securing FOR
army nurses the rank from second
lieutenant up, was submitted 10 the
convention for endorsement The res
olutions viii be acted upon at the az
ternOon session and when endorsed,
VIII be submitted TO Newton D. Baker
and the war department for consider
alton A committee consisting Of Miss
r. Ruledge, Of Dallas. Mrs Grace
New Orleans, and Miss i. ID. Z
Greene, Miss Louise DIETRICH and Miss
appointed TO look into the question Of
the resolutions and on the reception of
their report the vote on the resolu- I
tion viii be taken.
Memorial Service.
Inc morning service opened with I
memorial service in honor Of Miss
Jane A. DelanO. who died April Is I
at SOvenay. France, as a result Of 1
two mastoid operations performed ]
while there. Miss DelanO was chair ]
eaa 4.T|
the Red Cross nursing service and IL I
was through her efforts that 600 900 4
nurses were modified and ready for /
service when war was declared. her I
department being the only one in .
readiness for the emerEencT-
Miss Delauo's first work in counec-
ton with the army was during the
opanish-American war when she
served under Clara Barton. It was
through her efforts that the affilia-
Red Cross and the American Nurses
tsociation whereby the American
Nurses association agreed to furnish
aurses for the Red Cross in cases Of
disaster and emergency as well as
uring war.
435 Nurses In Service.
The address Of the memorial serv-
lee was made by Rev. f. NJ johnson
in which he talked Of the service Of
the nurse in the war, what it meant
E
what the nursing service means after
the war is over Miss Wilma Carlton
gave a sketch Of the life Of Miss De-
lano- as a closing feature OF the
service A report Of the Red Cross
committee whose services had been
developed through the efforts OF Miss
Delano. was made Among other
things. the report stated that 435
nurses had been enrolled from Texas
Tor active service in the United States
and France.
Luncheon Guests.
AIRS. Grace EuEblad. director OF pub
lie. health nursing service Of the Gulf
division Of the American Red Cross
Idressed the meeting on the plans Of
the Red Cross for public health uurs-
ms She dwelt chiefly on the need for
The work in rural communities and
presented 10 the nurses the fact that
he Red Cross has appropriated a fund
# 100000 for scholarships TO be used
Tor preparing graduate nurses for
public health work. especially for
nurses returning from the service
who would be unable 70 provide this
raining for themselves
During the afternoon session, Miss
Edyth NJ Gill chief nurse at Fort
Bliss base hospital. talked on army
Nursing its Advantages and Disad-
vantages Ruth BIS told o. her''