Evening star., 1944-03-19

IloFldcIiSc I1OSplldl. I1eT husband Is
SO proud of her that he paid her dues
in the Graduate Nurses Association
and gave her the membership card for
a Christmas present.
Many Had Retired.
Many of the nurses had married and
retired to raise their children when the
war came. The children are a problem
now but they're meeting that in a
variety of ways.
One nurse pays a maid practically
her whole salary to take care of her
three small children while she works
at hospital.
Another nurse has two children, aged
Is months and months She lives
with her sister, telephone operator.
They have arranged their shifts so one
works in the daytime and the other
at night and there's always some one
with the babies.
Short on Sleep.
The only time some of the nurses
ever sleep is when their children are
taking their afternoon nap
For instance, one private duty nurse
was called by the Nurses Official Regis
try for 12-hour night duty. She said
she would 60 on the case that night
Knowing she had two babies, the regis
try asked: But when are you going
to sleep?"
l,1t
had two-hour nap with the children
this afternoon"
The private duty nurses are well aware
now that when a call comes they are
needed right away
In the old days, several hundred nurses
were available for calls. A nurse COM
ing on case might have several weeks
to rest, straighten up her apartment.
do little shopping and generally enjoy
little freedom from the demands of
the sick.
It's not that way now. There's long
waiting list of patients needing indi-
vidual care in the hospitals or their
homes. Both the shortage of nurses
and the increase of population have
contributed to that. A number of Gov
ernment girls have brought their
mothers here to live with them. When
mother gets sick, the girl either has to
stay home from work or find a nurse.
AS soon as nurse calls in to the
registry now, she goes on a case. In
fact sometimes they don't even wait
for her call. Frequently. the registry
calls hospital to find out If the nurse
Is still on a case.
They Seldom Refuse.
"A nurse may be counting on q half
day of to get her hair done but she
doesn't even have time for that" said
a registry spokesman. when We call
them, they seldom refuse"
The Graduate Nurses Association
opposed 12hour duty before the war,
but now does everything it can to en-
courage it. II one nurse works IL hours
on a 24-hour case, the patient can get
along with one less nurse. Sometimes
the other nurse on the case only works
eight hours, but then arrangements are
IlIdUc lOi tilCIIlDcl vi lIlt pdllSlll .
family to sit with the sick one.
In 1912 Is per cent of the private
duty nurses accepted the tiring 12-hour
duty. Last year, % per cent went on
the longer hours.
The nurses are also willing to take
the double duty of group nursing
where single nurse takes care of two
or three patients. 1t takes tact, patience
and hard work to run from one patient
to another but the hospitals are trying
to make it as easy as possible by put
ting the patients in adjacent rooms.
Usually, on a private case, nurse
can sit by the patients bed every Sc
often, rest herself That can't be dont
when two or three patients all need at
tention. Still, group nursing helps fl
the untitled calls which average as high
as 40 a day.
To meet the crisis in the hospitals
the Graduate Nurses Association ha:
urged nurses coming out of retiremen,
to go on general duty.
RefreSher Courses.
A total of $50 nurses took the nine
week refreSher courses and many Others
went into the hospitals under super
vision until they could pick up the ole
routine. Some now work four hours E
day, until their children come home
from school or on week ends.
These five nurses al Children's Hos
pital are typical of the nurses who have
come back:
Mrs. Helen Mcdonald graduated from
nursing school in 1917, married anC
raised a family. She keeps house fol
her husband and two daughters who
have war Jobs She took the refreShel
course in 1912 and has been workinl
regularly from 730 to every day in
charge of the hospitals premature room
Mrs. Leona Tate graduated from nurs-
ing school in 1911, took the refresher
course and was on regular duty until
last December when she resigned tC
take care of her grandchildren while
their mother worked. Now Mrs. Tate