The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-09-24
Trained Nurses
Union
DR.. Charles H. Mayo Says
Their Demands Are Beyond
Reason

nous Mayo Cl1nlC at hOcHeSleI.
Minnesota, says the nursing union
has come to be the most autocratlc
closed shop in the country
In an authorized interview in the
Pictorial Review for october, in
which he calls for 100000 sub
nurses to relieve acute shortage, DR..
Mayo charges that the leaders of
organized nursing have carried
their methods too far and With too
high a hand, and in doing this
have defeated their own purpose.
for they have lost sight Of the real
impulse of their profession-the al
deviation of the pain Of the world.
Ministration to the sick and the
dying can not be bound by hard
and fast laws. They are the di-
vine righc CT the poor as we'll as
the rich. A proilibitive price can
not be put upon them. And that
is what the nurses are doing. Too
great"a commercialiZation OF their
services is making proper care ot
sne sick impossible for those in
moderate circumstances. IN addi-
regulations can not be met III hos
pitals if the hospitals are to main
tain their high standards Of service.
I understand that in some hospitals
the nurses Nave even resorted to
strikes. This is shocking indict
ment OF the profession, and l can
not believe that the nurses invoiv-
ed were heartily in sympathy with
them. They mus, have been mis-
led by the agitation Of one OF two
malcontents and incompctcnts.
Supposing that doctors should go
on strike! The thought is no less
appalling than a nurses strike!
Therefore with the union becom-
ing a menace it is time for the
public to cooperate against it.
The educational standards for
registration Of nurses as set down
by the nursing boards of the Va
rious states have gone beyond. all
reason. Any intelligent girl can
acquire in two years all the
knowledge necessary for the thor
oughly competent nurse. l know
ask any nurse to do anything. which
she could not have learned how to
do in two years training. But as
the laws Of most states demand
high school pre- education and
three years training for the reg
istered nurse, the only way to cir
cumvcnt them is by training sub
nurses or nursing aids who will
accept smaller pay, whose demands
are not SO eXactinS, and who will
be proficient enough to take hold
Of almost any case presented to
them.
Seven dollars day for an
eight hour day is more than eX-
orbitant; it is prohibitivc. 1t
means that in cases of dangerous
disease where constant sisilful care
and watching are necessary to save
the life Of the patients, three
nurses must be employed at a daily
cost of twentT-one dollars Il day
How, l ask, can the man and Wo-
man Of average means afford to
pay such charges? They can not do
it. Neither can the hospitals ii
they wish to keep open their doors.
Good nurses are born. They are
not made. any more than good
stenOgraphers or good writer's or
good lawyers are made. Education
helps, but if Il girl has all the cdu-
cation in the world and the best Of
sccretarial training, and yet lacks
manual dcXterity and sound buSi-
ness sense. she will not make Il
good StenoGraphcr. All the train
ing in the world Will not make Il
good nurse Of a girl who is always
thinking about herself and whose
heart does not so OUT toward suf-
fering humanity in q desire to
ease that pain by selt-sacrilicinS
service. Pictorial Review for Oc-
tober.