Sacred Heart Hospital School of Nursing - Carmen Sylva Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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. x., , .. . fy yjyvf wfw ooorij The idea of a uniform was not liked at first in American schools and it was not at once adopted. The members of the Bellevue Hospital Committee understood the moral effect, for they reported that a uniform, however simple, is indispensable and should be rigidly enforced. It was considered advantageous on the ground of economy as well as neatness and its effect on a corps of nurses is the same as on a company of soldiers. Preju- dice against a uniform at this school, however, disappeared when a nurse, who was a member of a prominent family, appeared in a dress with greyish-blue stripes and apron and cap of white. A long grey stuff dress was worn in winter and a calico in summer, simply made with white apron and cap, and brown linen cuffs covering the sleeves from wrist to the elbow. In 1864 the Red Cross adopted a uniform to distinguish and protect its workers. The insignia adopted was a red cross on a white field and Worn on the arm. The first government uniform was adopted by England. The costume for nurses who were going to war, was a loose wrapping gown of dark, grey tweed, worsted jacket, plain linen collar, and a thick, white cap. Passing over the right shoulder was a broad strip of brown holland embroidered in red worsted, with the words Scutare Hospitalf' Short grey worsted cloak, brown straw bonnet, and veil completed the costume. It is said that the shoulder cape of the present English Army sister is a relic of the regulation uniform of Florence Nightingale. The present day Army Nurse Corps uniform has been designed especially upon re- quests of overseas commanders to meet the special needs in combat areas. Functional re- quirements streamlined the cut and changed the colors to conform to the fundamentals of camouflage. The street uniforms are like those of the WAACS to simplify production, are regulation olive drab, with shirts and ties of khaki and brown accessories. The blue and maroon with white shirt and black tie is for dress only. For service nearest the battlefields there is a two-piece slack and blouse outfit. Of olive drab herring bone twill, its trousers are caught by leggings laced over ankle-strapped boots and there are huge patch pockets on the blouse and upper legs. With it is worn a helmet. High, heavy boots, trousers, a reversible parka with furlined hood, and mittens com- prise the Arctic uniform. Beneath it may be worn extra trousers of warm pile fabric. Reverse the parka and it's white. Fabrics for both these uniforms and for the topcoat-raincoat are wind-resistant and water-repellent poplin of the sort the Army has issued to men for combat, The topcoat features a detachable wool lining which can double as a bathrobe and a detachable hood to fit over the official cap. The cap is of olive drab, its soft crown fits snugly at the back of the head and pulls smartly into a high crown at front to accommodate the official Army officers, insignia above the visor. The hospital uniform, similar to a wrap-around smock, ties at the waist, doing away with troublesome metal fasteners. For field use, a Seersucker dress eliminates starch- ing and ironing and a brown and white pinstripe fades into beige at a distance. A match- ing jacket transforms it into a suit for off-duty wear. The same smock in white is to be used in hospitals in this country. The nurses cape has remained a traditional garment of functional use, but a deftly different cut has given it a new swing. Since example is one of the greatest forces of infiuence, nurses should hold before themselves, whether in uniform, or out of it, the idea of simplicity, suitability, comfort, economy, and good looks. For even in professional work, a thing of beauty is a joy forever, and the sick and the troubled need all the joy that can be procured for them. Fifty

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A 1, .i'.'iiv- ' .ASQ In 5 .lumi- 4133118 33 lllir 5 Q , x Q X P 1 Quik! icrls lf li vfiflff ii S alll jlili ffl :jill QOOCIZI .visa fl I fl ,ig I 'yr 0' , l 7 . C MIPS 16 S M1 OJEIUDI li if SINCE THE iviosr dominant influences on the development of nursing throughout the ages has been religion, with war and science as secondary forces, we must look to these factors in the evolution of the nursels uniform. In the long period before the Christian era it is almost impossible to differentiate medical and nursing measures from ceremonials of worship, of purification and propitiation. It follows that the earliest costume for nursing was the garb of attendants of the priest in the temple. The medical man or priest monop- olized the functions of the priest, teacher, law giver, and physician. With the beginning of Christianity the new motives of brotherhood and service, and the emphasis upon the duty of charity and self sacrifices as preached by the poverty and the suffering of the early church under persecution, there developed workers whose main function was the care of the sick and unfortunate. Organized under the auspices of the early church these workers had the duties along the lines of what nowadays would be called social work and visiting nursing. The most outstanding of these were the deacons and deaconesses, whose costumes were dictated by the simplicity and poverty of their life. When in the 4th century the aristocrats and wealthy women took up the task of nursing as a penance and guarantee of heavenly reward, the nursing garb was the char- acteristic Howing garments of the rich ladies of the day. However in the following period in which monasticism was prevalent, the simplest and coarsest religious garb was adopted in accordance with the regulations of the various orders. The stiff white caps of the deaconesses and the close fitting white caps of the nuns were the forerunners of the present nurse's cap. The cowl or cape or hood with which the face could be covered in humility, and the large stiflly starched white hoods are the predecessors of parts of the present day uniform of different countries. In all of them are found the motives of humility, cleanliness, protection, practicability, uniformity and equality. A white garb was decreed in 1526 for nurses in Hotel Dieu in Paris, founded by Bishop Landry of Paris and conducted by the Augustinian Sisters and the Daughters of Charity, as a means of promoting propriety outside the hospital for the nurses who were often sent out to do private duty in the homes of the poor. In the following years certain religious orders were organized exclusively for nursing in hospitals and they survived even through the years of the religious and political revo- lutions of the 16th century when the religious orders were expelled and the hospitals confiscated and placed under State control. In England the state-controlled hospitals were in the hands of ignorant, dishonest and often drunken and immoral women picked up on the streets to act as nurses, therefore one can understand the dreadful conditions of Sairy Gampl' as described by Charles Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewitn and how the once famous Bethlehem Hospital became the despicable Bedlam where nothing but cruelty and confusion reigned supreme. Hence it can easily be seen how secular nursing fell into disrepute and for its re-establishment and favorable acceptance, required many years of patient labor on the part of Frederika Munster C1833Q, later the wife of Pastor Theodor Fliedner, founders of the Lutheran Deaconessesw in Kaiserwerth, Germany, Miss Elizabeth Fry CI84OD a Quakeress who founded the Protestant Sisters of Charityv in London, England, and last but not least, Florence Nightingale 418535 who established the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in St. Thomas Hospital, London. During these years of re-adjustment for secular nursing, the Sisters of Charity quietly continued their work with over 12,ooo Nursing Sisters in the year 1850, who from the bluish grey o 4 n I ' 5, ' color of their habit received the name of 'Soeur Grises and upon the grey uniform of Sister Ieanne Rendu the Cross of the Legion of Honor was once pinned by the Emperor Napoleon. . Forfy-zzfllc

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