Evening star., 1942-10-24
Talks Planned
For Gray Lady
Candidates
Lectures to Be Held
. Monday and Friday
At Walfer Reed

Two lectures for candidates for
volunteer service as Gray Ladies at
local hospitals will be given at the
Red Cross Room at Walter Reed
Hospital next week, according to an
announcement.
The first will be held at 11:15
am. Monday with Miss Mabel
Boardman, chairman of all volun-
teer special services of the Red
Cross in the District and national
secretary of the American Red
Cross, as speaker.
The second lecture will be held at
10:45 am. Friday when Gen. Frank
r. Keefer, chairman of the District
Red Cross Chapter, and Otto S.
Lund. manager of the District
chapter, will speak.
The lectures are. for candidates
who have filed their applications and
are eligible. They will be given cards
to admit them to Walter Reed for
the lectures.
Mrs Albert N. Baggs, District chair
man Of the Hospital and Recreation
Corps of the American Red Cross,
as the "Gray Ladies" are officially
known, held meeting this week
at the Sulgrave Club for her newly
appointed officers, assistants and
Sub-chairmen and the chairmen of
the II local hospitals served by the
Gray Ladies. Guest speakers were
Miss Boardman and Mrs. Hugh w.
Rowan, chairman of the Nurses
Aides in the District chapter.
AS the Nurses Aides and the
Gray Ladies are the two hospital
services of the Red Cross, the dis
cussion centered on how to keep the
two separate and distinct in hos
pitals where both are working, to
prevent overlapping, to assure CO.
operation and dovetailing of duties.
The Nurses Aides are trained to
assist the professional nurses In
their routine, relieving them for
more important duties. The Gray
Ladies work to raise the morale of
the sick and worried and perform
friendly tasks for which the doc
tors and nurses do not have time.
In her talk to the group Miss
Boardman declared: Each of you
has had long and arduous train
ing for your particular work and
we want to be sure that you are
proficient in your own line of serv-
ice. In an emergency-a real ernerg-
ency-each of you would do what
you were asked to do by a RESPONSE
BILE person." fan@s e1 rts-
But" she continued with a twin
kle in her eye, IAN emergency
should not be made Of the fact that
one OF you Is in the corridor and the
other in the room-and more easily
available. If the one in the cor
ridor is trained for the particular
service required, the one in the room
should go and call her for it,
Miss Boardman, with Mrs. Henry
R. Rea, started the first Gray Lady
service at Walter Reed in 1918.
Since then there have been groups
formed in military, naval and ci-
villain hospitals in 80 States. Be-
cause Of the highly specialized work
Of the corps, the greatest care is
taken in consideration of candidates
who must have temperamental suit
ability for hospital work, necessary
time to devote to it and special ap-
titude.
American citizenship, membership
in the Red Cross, good health, will
ingness to take the prescribed course
of training and to give required
yearly service to the hospital to
which they are assigned are other
requirements for candidates be-
tween the ages of 81 and so. All
candidates here are asked to come
to the Gray Lady desk at the Dis
trict Chapter in the Corcoran Art
Building to sign application blanks.
Training courses are starting soon
for Mount Alto, st. Elizabeth's and
the Home for the Incurables. Those
for Walter Reed and the Naval Hos
pital are completely filled. After
the first of the year, there will be
courses at George Washington, Chill
drens and Episcopal and names are
being taken for Gallinger.
Transportation inquiries and Of
fers of transportation for the lee
lures next week are being handled
at the Gray Lady desk, Republic
5000, Extension 200.