Evening star., 1941-03-02
War Causes Shortage
OF Nurses in Remote
Region in Kentucky
Coll for requirements
Issued; Frontier Service
Benefit Held Here

England's own are returning to
her even from the mountain fast
nesses of Eastern Kentucky.
The war abroad has penetrated
into a region so remote that only
one highway and no railroad has
ever ventured there and the nurses
of the Frontier Nursing Service ride
to their cases on horseback.
1t is the nursing service that has
been affected by the war. The small
corps of women on horseback Is
predominantly British, trained In
the e-midwife schools of Eng
land and Scotland.
First loss to the service was one
of the nurse -midwives home in Eng
land on vacation. She cabled:
Owing to present situation, please
extend leave indefinitely"
Loses IL of "a Nurses.
The other British nurses stuck to
their chores in the mountains as
long as they could, but as country
after country fell. one by one the
nurses left for England. Since the
outbreak of the war the service has
lost II of its "a nurses.
The war also meant the supply
of nurses from Britain was closed.
In a service where a baby is de-
livered every day, trained midWives
were needed and there was no ac-
credited school of midwifery in the
United States Ehere American
trained nurses could be schooled to
become graduate midwives.
The Frontier Nursing Service,
however, is an old hand at facing
difficulties. Mrs. Mary Breckin-
ridge, daughter of the former Am
baSsador to Russia, chose the most
inaccessible corner of civilization she
could find in this country to start
the service in 1925.
The service has found ways to
cover TOO square miles of territory.
1t has won the confidence of noun
tain folk who still settle squabbles
with guns. 1t has learned TO bring
medical and obstetrical care to U.s.
900 people.
Call for Nurses Issued.
If the war robbed the service of
British nurse -midwives, some way
had to be found to train American
nurses. Now two are schooled every
six months in the tiny hospital
in Hyden, county seat of Leslie
County, where the service operates.
The call for nurses for Americas
own frontier has gone out. Re-
quired are nurses who can stand
riding Is miles on single case, and
who are willing to give up city sal
aries and city amusements for the
back country.
The nurses who have gone before
them can remember these things:
OF the first 1000 babies delivered
by the service not one mother and
only one child lost its life.
An 18-month-old baby, weighing
II pounds came into the little hos
pital and left with 2o-pound hold
on life.
A young girl, taught In one of
home nursing classes, cared for her
8-year-old sister, Ill with influenza.
A man with whole family de-
pendent on him was nursed safely
through pneumonia.
A community was vaccinated
against typhoid.
Volunteers Serve as Couriers.
Working with the service is a
group of young volunteers. They act
as couriers, taking care of the
horses, riding with the nurses on
cases and transporting sick patients
to the hospital.
All the work is supported by pri-
vate donations, benefits and a small
endowment. One such benefit was
held by the Washington Committee
of the service yesterday when John
Mason Brown, New York dramatic
critic, lectured on Broadway in Re-
view at the Mayflower Hotel.
The money goes back to the
mountains where no woman who has
ever sent for a nurse in her hour
of need has been refused, where
starched uniforms are replaced by
riding habits, where a few pioneers
are showing what can be done of the
frontier of health.
Despite the war, the nurses on
horseback ride on.