Milford chronicle., 1933-05-19

hospital peOpled with 1000 patients,
lying on cots but few inches apart,
stretching total distance of near
ly four miles in an old building
which contained not single wash
basin, towel, piece of soap or a
broom? What would we think of a
place called a hospital where pa
tients arrived half naked, were fed
on food unfit to eat; where the pa
tients lay on canvas sheets so
coarse that they recOiled from them,
and nobody was doing anything
about il? Would we not feel that
fighting at the front was far safer
than being sick in such place?
Florence Nightingale, whose birth
day we commemorate on May 18th
entered such a hospital. Its death
rate, we are told, was almost 500
per thousand when she came TO
minister to the sick and wounded.
This appalling death-rate had been
reduced to % per thousand when
she left.
II seems incredible that such con-
ditiOns could exist. Perhaps some
one will say: But that was eighty
years ago, during the Crimean war.
People were ignorant then" The
strange thing about this story as
history gives it to us is that people
were not ignorant, as was shown by
the Tapidity with which they fell into
line with Miss Nightingale's idea of
cleanliness and Ordiliness, which
were revolutionary ideas i'm hospital
procedure of that time. No, people
were not ignorant, just Indifferent.
They resisted any change from GUS
tom and established routine. Thou
sands of lives are wasted today, just
as they were then, chiefly because
of the difficulty of translating
knowledge into action, the difficulty
of getting people to use existing in
formation for their own betterment,
especially when il means the slight
est departure from the established
order of things.
Florence Nightingale was born of
an English family of considerable
wealth and position A nurse in
those days was usually coarse, ig-
nOrant, dirty, careless woman, with
out training such as we know today
With such unfavorable record rest
ing upon the field of nursing, it is
not to be wondered at that her par
ents objected to their daughter
choosing such an occupation. She
herself said that it was as If she
wanted to be kitchen maid. Fam
lily objection was the first of the
many obstacles she had to over
come She spent year in a nurs-
ing school, then came the Crimean
war; which gave her dramatic vim
dication Of her choice. Rumors had
come back to England that condi-
tiOns were not good in the army hos
pitals at the front, in the suburbs
of EonstantinOple. Reality proved
to H. darker still. A complete break
down of the medical service had Oc-
Cured. The causes were complex,
stretching back through long years
of carelessness, due in large meas
ure to confused systems that ell
Couraged administrative inactiOn,
petty bungling and fatal exactness
of routine. Shortage of fuel existed.
Ventilation was poor The hospital
lacked the most ordinary drugs,
stretchers, splints and bandages.
difficult for us of today to believe,
difficult for MS of today TO believe,
pensiOncd old soldiers, and when
Florence Nightingale and her corps
of IS trained nurses arrived. they
found the wounded men caring for
each other as best they could. The
f,,I $ in oh
oyerburdened with work, cramped |
by official routine, tied down by |
red tape. Florence Night |
ingale came with ample funds raised |
by the London Times, and bank |
of her own upon which she |
frequently drew in order that the
work she desired to do might not |
be hampered. Before leaving Lon
don she consulted, the head of the
army medical serFice as to whether
she should take any stores with her.
She was advised that nothing was
needed En- route, however, she
preferred to trust her own instincts,
so she purchased a large quantity
Of provisions, which she found bad
y needed on her arrival.
Soon the kitchens were reorgan-
zed. Ill-cooked meat served at ir-
regular intervals was replaced by
Dunctual meals, well prepared and
lppetizing. During all the period
lf bringing order out of chaos, she
was never heard to raise her voice
above its usual clear, reassuring
ones. Frequently she was told;
IT cant be done, but always she
'eplied: but it must be DONE.
Florence Nightingale became
egend in her lifetime. A battleship
vas ordered to bring her back home,
md unheard of thing-a battleship
ordered to bring woman back home
rom the battlefront! She slipped
lome on a steamer Unannounced,
md sought Obscurity in her own
lome. This obscurity, however,