Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - Record Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 107 text:

-:Q-5.5 lx ggi, R. ,':.1,,f3 ..1 ' .- . t.1.-.'.:si,-:.,,t,,.- .. . Q Em'--.9i1': g3i-if.ng1--r , -' . . 'ary-QXNQI gif 1, .fy I 5.9.0 : 1, I ,gg!igc.3-g5.t'.f,g4,g.-. fx -. , . . , 1 . vxxifbtiisi-liar'-q.f 41,1-s - - . . , , . H V. ., 451:-jggikwxgisj-.frx,,A:'f,',.xt h R V . , I' - g -i Q iam, Y qi AAF-Klwg F- wif,--, ,. ,,.,,,,,,,i. .Ln..L4,.....W::.:...--4' QHSQ- Leffldff 1 We received our first patients june 8, 1918, and discharged the last ones january 20, 1919. Our Nurses' Home was one of the newer hotels in the town, with just enough rooms to accommodate the sixty-Hve nurses, two secretaries, and one dietitian. The rooms accommodated two and three persons very nicely. There were large built-in wardrobes with mirrored doors, hot and cold running water, and electric lights in each room. During the winter, electric stoves were in every room. The rooms were equipped with beds and bedding and a chair. Many of the girls had tables, desks and even chiffoniers made with cretonne curtains furnished by the Red Cross. Our rooms were very attractive and most comfortable. We had one fairly large living. room and two small ones. The Red Cross rented very pretty wicker furniture, a piano and victrola, and with our U. of P. pictures and pennants, our quarters were very homelike. The dining room was a very pretty one, our tables were long wooden ones, picnic style. Gur food was always very good, and we had plenty of everything at all times. 4 Before our patients came we had a number of dances. Our Hrst one will always linger in our memories, it was held in the dining room of the Du Pare Hotel, and everybody was interested and helped in some way. VVe gathered wild flowers, and there were beautiful ones growing everywhere, and with our large American flags, Base Hospital, U. of P. and RedfCross flags, red and blue bunting and pennants, the dance hall was beautifully decorated. The music was furnished by our orchestra of Unit men. After the patients arrived, when we were not busy, we had numerous dances and parties of various kinds, sometimes held in the Nurses' Home, but usually in the Du Pare Hotel. 0ne dance was held in the dining room of the Continental Hotel, rented for the evening by the Red Cross. Aviators from a nearby camp were always invited to our parties and seemed to enjoy th-em very much. They gave a number of dances for us at their camp and always were excellent hosts. Also when not busy, we had time for a number of picnics and walks among the hills of the beautiful country around Chatel-Guyon. There were a number of interest- ing old chateaux within walking distance and we enjoyed exploring them. . Cn October 19, 1918, three nurses were detached and sent to Hospital. Train No. S6 for duty. January 7, 1919, three nurses were sent to Camp Hospital No. 45, Aix-les-Bains, january 13th, fifteen nurses to Treves, Germany, for duty with the Third Army, and January 22d, twenty were sent for further duty to Beau Desseta Hospital Center near Bordeaux. j During our stayin France we were allowed seven days' leave every four months, and most of us were able to see some of the interesting cities and the southern part of France along the beautiful Mediterranean. j EDITH B. IRWIN. 103 j

Page 106 text:

vided for us. Armed with soap, towels and toothbrushes, everybody got off the train, and there was a general cleaning up. The men shaved and the girls combed, it was really a very funny sight. The train trip with its very novel experiences covered two days and two nights. T We arrived May 7th in Chatel-Guyon, a very beautiful summer resort in the south central part of France. We found our hospital was to be in various hotels scattered through the town. VVe were quartered in the Du Pare Hotel, our main hospital building for the first few days, until a permanent nurses' home was selected. Part of our equipmentcame with us, and we immediately began to unpack and get things into shape. But first, the hotel needed a thorough cleaning, and the nurses played a very important part in this. With pails of water, brushes and soap, the windows, woodwork and fioors were scrubbed until the building did not look like the same place. The unpacking and placing of the equipment was no small matter, but under Col. Carnett's efiicient management, things moved along very quickly, and at the end of ten days we were ready for two hundred patients. But as each hospital train carried from three hundred and fifty to five hundred patients, we did not receive our first train until june 8th, just one month after we arrived in Chatel- Guyon. The nurses helped a great deal in the setting up of the Hospital, one detail marked linen on the marking machine and sewed marked tapes on pajamas, etc., that could not be put in the marking machine, another detail stocked the linen, rooms, another made up beds, and others equipped the wards and operating rooms. A few days after our arrival here, six of the nurses were sent for temporary duty to Camp Hospital No. 44 Riom, a little later twenty nurses were sent to Base Hospital No. l8, six to Base Hospital No. 66, and fifteen to Base Hospital No. l5, all for temporary duty until our patients arrived. On june Sth our first surgical team, which included two nurses, was ordered to the front. I , A At the time the Hrst train. of 359 patients arrived, there were only sixteen nurses for duty, they worked very hard for a few days until the nurses on detached duty were returned. At first we were disappointed to be so far from the front, and our surroundings were so beautiful it was hard for us to realize we were at war, but when the train loads of our own boys came in with such horrible wounds-and a number of trains came directly from the front-we realized there was a war and also plenty to do even in the rear. - T - The American ,boys were wonderful patients, and we are all probably spoiled for going back to special nursing. Not until after the armistice was signed, did we have our full number of nurses. When we were the busiest withaZZ75 patients w-e had just forty-nine nurses for duty. It was impossible to do everything for the patients we would like to have done, but the sickest ones always received the best of care. 102 '

Page 108 text:

Nursing With Operating Teams at the Front VVhen the United States started activities in this World War,t e e ' and the care of the wounded in the Field fact that something had to be done to speed up the operating upon, ' ' f h hos itals was not sufficient in numbers to attend to all the and Evacuation hospitals, as the personnel o t ese p I h M dical Department recognized the surgery in times of activity. Hence, from the Surgeon-General came orders to the medical organizations to form operating or sur- gical teams, as quickly and in as great numbers as possible. The order stated that a team should be composed of an operator an assistant, an anaesthetizer, two nurses and two corps men. It further indicated that it was 7 desirable to have the members of a team accustomed to working together. With this in view, Base Hospital No. Z0 chose two teams, later designated as No. ol and No. 62- Major Carnett, now Lieutenant-Colonel, headed one team with Captain Laws as assistant, Lieutenant Gold- smith as anaesthetizer, Miss Pratt and Miss Bergstresser as the nurses and Sergeant Bell and Private jones as the corps men. Major Eliason headed the other team with Major Keene as assistant, Captain Bates as anmsthetizer, Miss Williams and Miss Landis as the nurses, and Sergeant Dougherty and Private Farabaugh as the corps men. Later, because of sickness, No. 62 had Miss Gallagher as nurse and Private Yost ascorps many Still later Major Keene replaced Lieutenant-Colonel Carnett, who became Commanding officer of Base No. 20. Captain Laws, with Miss Grenville, headed another team. Major Eliason had also replaced Miss Williams with Miss Hume, due to sickness, and lWajor Keene with Captain Edwards. Major Keene had to beleft at the base which otherwise wouldihave been destitute of an experiencd surgeon. Very shortly after their formation 'both teams were called to the front to work. Y The members were told to travel light, that is with the minimum of baggage, which meant a bedding roll, a hand bag each, and ra package of instruments. A p ' Traveling was very uncomfortable, there were, of course, no sleeping accommodations, and only occa- sionally could seats be obtained. Nurses and men alike had to sit and sleep or lie upon the seats or floor, either in the compartments or in the corridor of the car. Very frequently the trains were stopped when near the zone of activities, and 'Hhostile aeroplanes alertw would be given. Of course, alllights were shaded or hooded and covered with a blue globe. The trains of course did notrun very near, and so ambulances and trucks carried you to your post farther up and nearer the fighting. This traveling had to be accomplished at night and without lights. n From this point on, the hardships of the nurses were increased in greater proportion than were those of the male members of the teams. 104 '