Evening star., 1945-03-26
Lack Of Civilian
Nurses Blamed
On Army Policy
Many Not Procticing
Left Out Of Bill, Says
Hospital Director
By CARTER BROOKE JONES

Voluntary recruiting of nurses
has failed not only to meet the
Army's urgent combat needs. but
has had the effect of curtailing the
number of nurses available to civil
ian hospitals, DR.. Arthur j. Will, di-
rector of hospitals for the County
OF Los Angeles, Calf, told the Sen
ate Military Affairs Committee to-
day.
DR.. Will, who was DELAYED in
reaching the city and sent a state
ment which was placed in the rec
ord on hearings on the House-ap-
proved nurse draft bill, explained
that most of the nurses who had
gone into the armed forces had
come from the comparatively small
number in hospitals.
Los Angeles hospitals, he pointed
out, are supposed to have 800 grad
uate nurses among their 5000 en-
ployes, but actually have only $50
trained nurses at present, despite
the fact that the county is paying
top salaries as compared with the
entire country. He attributed the
potentially dangerous condition" to
"a lack of sufficient nurses willing to
accept employment in the care of
the sick" OF 5000 nurses licensed
to practice in Los Angeles County.
he said, 4,500 are working at their
profession and of that number SO
per cent are in private duty nurs-
ing or in industrial positions and
not in hospitals.
Called Fundamental Threat.
ITO draft nurses only for the
armed forces" said DIR. Will, would
merely press an additional hardship
on all civilian hospitals. The alter
native might be the registration of
all graduate nurses, regardless of
age, to the end that many who are
now engaged in the practice of nurs-
ing could be drawn into civilian hos
pital work"
1t is apparent. he said, "that the
voluntary program of recruitment of
nurses has not only failed in its OBJ
jective of providing sufficient nurses
for the armed forces, but also has
greatly curtailed the number of
nurses working in civilian hositals. {"
Mrs. Mildred Scott Olmstead, a
social worker, representing the
Women's Committee to Oppose Con-
scription contended, 1T will be a
fundamental and lasting blow to
American life to conscript women
and it would fundamentally change
the character of our country"
Several other witnesses also ap-
posed the draft.
AS the Senate committee contin-
ued its inquiry, the American Nurses
Association announced through a
press representative that nurses now
are applying for service in the Army
at the rate of TOO a week. These fig
ures were obtained from the Red
Cross, the official recruiting agency.
Encouraged by Figures.
The War Department sent word
to the nurses organization, its off,
clals said, that if it could obtain
1,400 applications a week the sur
geon generals Office estimated that
the total of $4,000 which the Army
requires could be enlisted by May /
1t was emphasized that these are
applications and only a portion are
finally accepted.
The War Department has given
no indication that it has changed
its attitude toward a draft. Surg.
Gen. Norman T. Kirk and Under
secretary Patterson told the Senate
committee a law setting up selec-
tive service system for Inducing
nurses was, in their opinion, the
only way enough nurses could be
found to assure adequate care for
battle casualties.
The ANA. however, was encour-
aged by Red Cross figures to hope
voluntary recruiting might solve the
problem if the campaign for en-
listments could be stepped up at
once
The War Department also advised
the ANA that the procedure of COM
missioning nurses after they vol
unteered had been streamlined, so
that the average elapsed time had
been reduced to two weeks. The
time for processing" applications
sent from the Red Cross to the
Army had been cut to an average
Of four dave