Evening star., 1948-04-12
|NursingWeekE EmphosizesNeed
For Assistance Of ChronicoIIy III
By Richord [. Disney. Jr.

By Richard |. Disney, Jr.
What happens to q family when
long-term illness strikes?
/ A boy at school begins to feel bad
A public health nurse sees him
recommends home and q doctor
Rheumatic fever" Is the verdict
He will spend weeks In bed.
/ An elderly woman breaks her hip
After two years she still cannot
take care Of herself.
A girl, IL, is stricken with arth-
ritis. At 20 she has been bedridden
three years.
A boy begins to limp. Doctors dis
cover q bone disease. He will spend
months in bed to avoid becoming a
permanent cripple.
/ What happens to these people
and their families?
Long Term Illness Is Problem.
The District has about ,280 beds
for victims Of long-term illness, ac-
cording to the 1916 Health and Hos
pital Survey Of Metropolitan Wash
ington. 1t needs 2,100.
There are no provisions for
chronically i'll children.
Wealthy or overty-stricken,
therefore, the District resident faces
serious obstacles when he seeks
long term institutional care.
! Acutely i'll, he may 60 to q hos
pital. But when the serious phase
has passed he may have to leave
before he has received the full
benefits OF institutional treatment
or he may continue for weeks and
and months to occupy space needed
for more acutely i'll patients
If q family is wealthy, continued
home care may be provided by
private nurses. But few families
can afford that cost.
Some patients do find places in
crowded District institutions, some
in private nursing homes.
Many, however, must go home to
the often inadequate care Of rel
atives.
Nursing Week Opened.
Public health nurses-whose work
is being recognized in the celebra-
ton of Public Health Nursing Week
bring sunshine into the cheerless
picture at this point. Nursing week,
which began yesterday, will close
April II.
Nurses Of the Instructive Visit
ing Nurse Society stop at the homes
of the sick and help I'LL some Of the
gaps in family care Of patients by
instruction and example.
Nurses Of the District Health De-
partment may be called in for
special advice, or may be consulted
at clinics.
II q patients illness Is severe, or
there Is no one in the family COM
petent to take charge, visiting
nurses may continue to make regu-
lar calls.
Take the case Of the 7-year-old
boy who began to limp. Doctors
said he had a bone disease. He
spent three weeks in Gallinger Hos
pital, then went home to spend
months with his legs held in posi-
ton with pulleys and weights.
Visiting Nurses Give Aid.
Visiting nurses made regular stops
to give him bedside care and handle
the traction equipment. An ortho-
paedic nursing consultant OF the
Health Department also was called
in. Today the boy, now on crutches,
goes to the Crippled Children 8
Clinic at Gallinger for observation
and advice from 4 Health Depart
ment nurse.
Health once George G. Ruhland
paid tribute to the work of public
health nurses in . letter to Mrs.
Homer Ferguson, chairman Of the
Metropolitan Committee for Public
Health Nursing Week.
Although most Of the geograph-
ical frontiers have been conquered,
there are many other frontiers left" )"
he said. Chief among these is the
frontier Of health. In the approach
to this frontier the public health
nurse has an opportunity to serve
that very few others have"
He pointed to numerous openings
for nurses or those who wish to
enter this work in local and Federal
Government as well as private
agencies. The celebration Of pub
lie health nursing week, DR.. Ruh-
land said, will impress the public
with the many nursing services
available and give individual nurses
an awareness of their splendid con-
tribution to the community's health.
More Nurses Needed.
Even the public health nurses,
however, are too few to meet the
full demand for their services here
and long-term patients frequently
must give precedence to seriously
acute cases.
I'VE answer every CALL" said Miss
Gertrude H. Bowling. executive di-
rector of the Instructive Visiting
Nurse Society of Washington, a
Community Chest Agency. But the
society has only AZ nurses and an
average Of six cadets. After the
first visit to a patient, his case must
be weighted against others-and
serious illness comes first"
Tho roSIl1f ic fhot o,Yreae ava . al .