The rapid development of the Nursing Service of the Red Cross and the
solidarity of its various activities are encouraging signs of future
growth and more extended usefulness.
Our state and local committees of nurses, organized primarily for the
enrollment of Red Cross nurses, have responded with enthusiasm whenever
new demands have been made upon them. We now have more than five hundred
representative nurses serving on these committees throughout the United
States, and their co-operation and interest may be depended upon to
further any work undertaken by the Red Cross. They have been most
active in the sale of Christmas Seals and have co-operated with local
tuberculosis agencies, often serving on special committees. In organizing
our Rural Nursing Service we have sought their advice and assistance.
They have suggested nurses for rural work and have given valuable
information in regard to the needs of their own communities. Further
details concerning this important service is given by Miss Clement,
superintendent of rural nurses.
Our local committees are found ready to assist in relief work at
celebrations and parades, and appreciate the opportunities for experience
thus offered. The District of Columbia committee, of which Miss Anna J.
Greenlees is chairman, secured the nurses required for relief stations
established in Washington during inaugural week. A report of the work of
these stations appears in this number of the MAGAZINE.
The National Committee on Nursing Service, in co-operation with the First
Aid Department, has been authorized by the Red Cross to organize classes
of instruction for women in Home Nursing and First Aid. Once more we must
appeal to our local committees of nurses for their assistance. The plan
adopted requires that the instruction in Home Nursing shall be given
by enrolled Red Cross nurses, who must, in a large measure, be secured
through the local committees. As the work develops we hope that nurses
especially qualified to instruct women in the principles of right living
and the home care of the sick may be found willing to devote their whole
time to this instruction. Even two classes a day would give a fair income
and an opportunity to render valuable service to a community. Information
concerning these classes for women is given in this issue by Miss Oliver,
in charge of their organization.
Believing that the course in first aid adopted by the Red Cross would
be valuable even to graduate nurses, arrangements have been made with
the First Aid Department to allow enroled Red Cross nurses to take this
course at home. The textbook written by Major Charles Lynch must be used,
and nurses who so desire will be allowed to take an examination under the
direction of a physician appointed by the Red Cross. To those who pass
this examination a Red Cross First Aid Certificate will be issued.