Show I NURSES FOR THE ARMY Women Who Have Been Asked to Enlist En-list By Uncle Sam There are no trained army nurses in this country said Lieutenant Brown of the surgeon generals staff when Questioned as to the care to be given our wounded soldiers during the war with Spain It is easy to find two very good reasons for this fact One I is that there has been no inducement j to women to study this branch of the I profession The second reason is that i there is no place in this country where I I women can secure adequate training i for arrny service j The only way In which the govern j I meat can make sure of a corps of com Detent nurses on which to rely in time of war is i to establish for this purpose j a training school along lines somewhat j similar to those followed in the great English hospital at Netley where for the past 45 years British army nurses have received their training This school should be located in the national nation-al capital and might ba conducted in the same manner as the military academy acad-emy at West Point That Is to say the women appointed to the school could be educated at government expense on condition of giving their services for a term of years After that if they wished to resign they could dO so and would then form a reserve force on which the srovernment could draw incase in-case of war The course In such a school would be divided into hospital and field work in the hospitals in preparing aid applying ap-plying bandages treating fevers and other diseases apt to be prevalent in camps and administering anesthetics that part ofthe course devoted to fieldwork field-work to teach the nurses first aid on the battlefield how to put up a field hospital etc For the benefit of the navy a training ship would be provided provid-ed on which the nurses could become familiar with work on shipboard and with the conditions to be met in sea duty i In such a school as is here brielly outlined the nurses must form an integral in-tegral part of the army and navy just as the surgeons do now They would be under military discipline wear a distinctly army uniform be eligible to promotion and decoration and after a certain length of service to retirement on part pay After completing their training in the school they could be j assigned to the different army posts and hospitals in order to obtain practical prac-tical experience As In the case of West Point and Annapolis such an Institution could not but prove of benefit to the army and navy by giving women the most thorough j thor-ough training a training which many probably would never be able to secure otherwise The project has been suggested sug-gested in military circles more than once before but nothing ever came ot it because the lawmaking branch of the government could not see the necessity ne-cessity of such a provision Just now however in the absence ota ot-a regularly organized corps of trained army nurses the government is relying upon the various schools where nurses are instructed While much of the work of caring for the sick and wounded in the field will be left to the Red Cross the heads of the army are preparing a staff of nurses to accompany the troops when they move south and to care for the injured in the military hospitals The way in which these nurses have been obtained is the same as that in which the surgeons sur-geons for the volunteer corps of the army and navy have been supplied Through the different hospitals and schools the surgeons general secured the names of a large number of nurses who have recently completed their training To all of these enlisting blanks are sent with the request that the nurses who felt so disposed should fill them out indicating whether the government could call for their services whenever needed Some agreements were for immediate service others for enlistment after three or six months I A large number of replies several hundred in all have been sent in Some I of the signers say that they will go at once others that their services can be I had after July 1 and so on These have all been filed way at Washington and as fast as a demand for nurses arises I they will be acted upon The work of the nurses will begin with the actual commencement of hostilities hos-tilities War under modern conditions is so little known that it is impossible tell how great inroads sickness and I wounds will make In our ranks But the government moooses to be prepared for any emergency If our army moves Into Cuba it will be accompanied by a detachment de-tachment of the Red Cross under Miss Barton Most of the field work will be left to the members of the Red Cross i i who will care for Americans Cubans or I Spaniards as necessity may require j The trained nurses who have volunteered volunteer-ed directly under the command of the surgical department of the army and navy will be sent to Key West Tampa or other points where hospitals may be established Every woman who served as a nurse during the civil war has been besieged by a host of inquiries from her earnest young sisters who want o help In the present struggle After a lecture atone I at-one of the schools the other day a lot I of the girls gathered about Mrs Ellen Opp a pleasant grayhaired woman who acted as a nurse in the conflict In ISfil ISfilI I shall never forget my first experience experi-ence with a wounded man said Mrs I Opp with a smile It was after the I battle nf Bull Run and I had lust ar I rived in Washington I had cared for sick persons but never seen more blood than would come from a cut finger The first man brought into my section was a soldier His leg had been shot away His clothing was all bespat ttered with blood and the sight of that and the terrible wound made me feel more deadly faint than I ever did before be-fore or since My limbs almost gave way beneath me and I leaned against the wall to keep from falling In spite of the pain he was suffering the soldier noticed how pale I became Raising his hand in a half salute he said faintly Nurse could you get me a little water That brought me to myself I could at least carry water and I ran back and forth with a cup bringing a drink to every wounded man who was brought in Assoon as I learned what to do I got over my feeling of faintness faint-ness There is nothing like work to conquer such a weakness Speaking of water thats the great requirement of men who are wounded on a battlefield A drink of water will usually relieve them more than anything any-thing else the nurse can do for them The next thing is to get them into a comfortable position In the civil war men who were shot often fell forward on their faces and smothered in the grass before anybody reached them They should be turned over on their backs or sides and if an arm or leg is broken it should be placed as nearly as possible In a natural posltiori until the surgeon comes If there is ableeding wound it must of course be temporarily tempor-arily bandaged After all the best thing that a woman cando for the sick and wounded wound-ed is to brlng them hope and courage by her presence and by the attentions that only a woman knows how to give MAYO |