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

Page 109 text:

lN1any of the hospitals were in tents, some in old chateaux and others in abandoned French hospitals made up of barrack fAdrianj buildings. As a rule, the nurses were the last persons thought of when organ- ization matters were on hand, but the first ones thought of when surgical work was pending. A camp or ad- vanced hospital is no Ht place for females, the hardships, deprivations, dangers and embarrassments are too manifold. The lavatory facilities were nil, merely a flimsy blanket screen protection out of door. There were no bath facilities at all. The men would rig up a hose or an inadequate talcum box top spray in some shed and so get a canary-bird bath. The nurse had to take her bath in her tent with a towel and basin and very often cold water. They had to do their own laundry in buckets and with a limited supply of water at that, sometimes. To dry the washed articles, they hung them on tent ropes, wire fences, posts or trees in plain view of thousands of people's eyes. Very often our nurses stood in line at mess and received their meals in mess kits borrowed from an ofiicer, as they were not furnished eating utensils by the government. Occasionally it happened that there was no table for the mess, and nurses, officers and men had to stand or sit on anything available while they ate. This was especially disagreeable when it was raining hard, as it often was, for orders precluded the taking of food into your tent. Rubber boots and heavy shoes were very frequently the only foot gear to be thought of, because of the rain and mud. Then, too, sometimes the tents were not water-tight and you awoke to find your cot and blankets soaked. . A team operated in shifts, twelve hours on and twelve hours off, or eight on and eight off, and ran three operating tables. One nurse would be suture nurse, and the other would be floor nurse to wait on the Hrst one. She would receive her instruments through a small window or door from a central sterilizing room if in an old French Evacuation hospital. If the work was in a tent, the sterilizing was done over an alcohol lamp. Gloves, dressings, and supplies were very dear and had to be used very sparingly. Our two teams took their own gloves which they had dry sterilized. ' ' The work was hard, and the nurses had more than their share of the load, for in addition to running three tables which were kept filled with patients all the time, the suture nurse often acted as first assistant on the second case while the ofiicer assistant was Hnishing the first case. Later on, the teams were cut down to one nurse and she got her supplies and instruments direct from our central sterilizing nurse. After we were through operating, the nurse and her corps men had to clean up the rooms, which were quite bloody after thirty and forty cases had been done, dry and wipe the instruments and fix up the gloves. 105

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 '

Page 110 text:

Often while operating, the Hun bombing planes would be heard with their undulating zum-zum-zum, and out would go the hospital lights, and the work would continue by the aid of a pocket flashlight. Now and then, the Hun would drop a bomb on the hospital or several shells would hit a hospital, prob- ably because of the proximity of the hospital to a railhead frailroad sidingj or an ammunitionpile. It is generally conceded that the Germans did not intentionally bomb or shell American hospitals. Throughout the operating work, the cry always was, speed, speed, speed, for patients would be brought in by the ambulance train loads. To work at top speed for twelve hours, demanded every ounce of strength one had. For a nurse to fully fill her position with a team she must know her surgeon's technic, his tricks, signs and peculiarities, she 'must act and move quickly, and she must be strong. Slow, frail nurses can work at the front, but they cripple an otherwise fast team woefully. When on the- off shift, in f'push times, everyone wanted rest and sleep, both hard to get for the night shift, with the many noises of trucks, ambulances, aeroplanes, machine guns and distant barrage Hreg but one can become accustomed to anything, even hanging, if one survives often enough. When the work was light the team members frequently went sightseeing over the country and up close behind the lines. Transportation was, for the asking, out on any road, one merely had to wave to any truck or lorry or machine going in the desired direction, and a ride was forthcoming. The American nurse was an ex- ceedingly popular person in the front areas, and the men could not do enough for them. ' Very occasionally in between 'fdrives, when the hospital had been emptied and there was a wooden Hoor available, the nurses and officers who were free, would have a strictly informal dance, most often to the music of an old phonograph. ' '- V just about th-e time, however, when everything seemed quiet and safe, and it was about ten or eleven o'clock at night, you would hear that characteristic wavy zum-zum of the Hun on his wings, and then the rat4tat-tat of the machine gun and the anti-aircraft. Out of bed you would come, and on with whatever you could reach, in addition to your tin Lizzie, and into the abri you would go. At times this happened so frequently, sometimes three or four times in one night, that everyone slept in their clothes. Q There were times when the teams would do dressings in the wards inaddition to their operating shift. Fortunately this happened only when an Evacuation train was in, to carry patients back to the base hospitals in the rear. 'These trains accommodated Hve hundred patients, and were beautifully equipped with dressing facilities and even an operating room. They had a corps of medical men and nurses to attend the patients in transit. , a 106 l P