A PLEA FOR THE TRAINED NURSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2746, 26 February 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

A PLEA FOR THE TRAINED NURSE.

A trained nurse lasts only fifteen years, it is said : then she becomes more or less broken in health. It is a short period of productive usefulness. And is it necessary. Is it not a fact, especially in private nursing, that the average nurse is considered as a tireless phenomenon rather than as a human being—a woman with all the weaknesses that go with womanhood? Nor is this lack of consideration for' the nurse in the average home born, of thoughtlessness or indifference so much as it is of ignorance, or, in some cases, of selfishness. Few people begin to realise the exacting demands of a sick room; the fearful physical and mental strain, and the great fact that under such conditions and responsibility the of a quiet hour and physical exercise are more imperative than in almost any other walk in life. It is not in the breaks down. In the first instance a second nurse can be engaged to help; and in the last instance the poor, who know the meaning of hard work and weariness, are usually very ready to relieve tho nurse. ~ It is in the average home that the strength of the nurse is overtaxed. In such a lionm a second nurse is beyond the family means; and although the family themselves may have been almost worn out caring for the patient before calling in a- nurse, and although they themselves may need rest, outdoor exercise ana a reasonable number of hours of undisturbed sleep, once the nurse arrives it seems to be forgotten that she, too, is human, and that she cannot “go on forever” like Tennyson’s “Brook.” She cannot complain to the family or physician: that is unprofessional. So the poor girl often “gets along somehow.” But how? Until she cither drops or is ready to drop. “What are we paying her for?” say some folks, under the belief that .the amount received is a small fortune. They overlook the fact, if they choose to be selfish, that the better their care of the nurse the better her care of the patient and the more surely will they get “their money’s worth.” These trained nurses are fine girls, friends: hard-working, self-sacrificing, patient, tender. But they aro humans: just as accountable to Nature and her demands as is your daughter. The more considerate we are of them the more efficient will be their service: the more .personal tenderness will they throw into their work with our loved one lying ill. They look like angels sometimes in their uniforms, but they are women—daughters loved by some anxious mother for whom they are generally working. They would last longer than fifteen years if we were kinder to them. And, God bless, them, they deserve it—-these girls in uniform ! “Ladies’ Home Journal.”