The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-07-22
HOW A VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE
CAN HELP a
PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE

The Public Health Nurse working
for improved health conditions in a
given community feels that her most
powerful assistance must come from
the people themselves. For this rea-
son an active and interested nursing
committee in chapter has always
been regarded as one of the most i'm
portant parts of the health organiza-
ton of the community. But such a
committee, in turn, feels that the
work it is able to do in the way of ex-
planning health needs to the people,
encouraging the use of the Public
Health Nurse, helping such nurse
with her office work, her records and
reports, her classes in nutrition and
home hygiene and care of the Sick
still does not quite meet the needs Of
some situations. For instance, if
nurse in rural community comes in
to a home where there is a case of
chronic illness demanding a certain
kind of diet, it is entirely possible
that there may not be a single men,
Der of the nursing committee who is
in a position to furnish this diet to
the family regularly, and while the
nurse herself may prepare it once or
twice, it is impossible for her to in
clude this service in the many she
already is obliged to perform.
Again, nurse may be called upon
to attend an expectant Smother and
may find her entirely unprepared
with clothes for the expected infant
or for herself during her confine-
ment; the nursing committee may
help procure the necessary garments,
through solicitation or donation to be
used to fill G loan closet, but when
demands of this kind are frequent
even the best equipped loan closet
will often become empty too soon.
These are merely a few of the
needs which neither the nurse her
self nor the nursing committee is
able fully to meet. Therefore, it is
of particular interest for nurses to
know that the Red Cross Volunteer
Service stands ready to give regular,
correct and valuable assistance in |
supplying emergency as well as def
mite needs which exi7t as regular
thing. The members of this Volun
Leer service make clothing fer babies
from the good parts of old or dis
carded garments; they teach thrift
and economy in this way, just as
they teach economy in the use of
food and in the ways of preparing
food so that it is useful to help the
sick get WELL
Members of a volunteer committee
having automobiles will find many
ways to use them for the good of
hose who do not own such cars.
During the war the Red Cross Motor
Jorps found numerous ways to Use
heir automobiles for the public
,ood; during these days of peace the
anne is true while there is not the
anne scrt of needs to meet, still the
wner of an automobile will find that
he may help her volunteer commit
ee in distributing food for the sick,
n taking convalcscents and in
Aids to ride, either for pleasure
i to enable them t. get to clinics
r doctors offices for treatment.
rippled children, young mothers
nd babies, old people are all helped
y the occasional offer of an automo-
lie.
The fact that the chairman of the
ursing committee is always MEM
er of volunteer committee brings
he work of both the volunteer and
ursing committee very close togeth-
r and enlists the more varied serv-
,es of larger group of women for
ne same end-that of service to the
In short, the Volunteer Red Cross
ervice is exactly what it's name indi-
ates; an additional service to help
)rward the work of all the other
,rvices and nurses will soon learn to p
lily on the combined efforts of nurs-
lg and volunteer committees of
napier. Contributed by Nursing
ervice, Southern Division, American d
ed Cross.