Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1918 — FIGHTING SISTERS OF FIGHTING MEN [ARTICLE]

FIGHTING SISTERS OF FIGHTING MEN

Twenty Thousand Nurses Now Enrolled in American Red Cross. Of the eighty odd thousand registered trained nurses In the United States about 20,000 have enrolled as Red Cross nurses, volunteering their services at the front, In cantonments and hospitals or ip any other needed capacities. This enrollment is the nursing reserve of the United States Army Nurse Corps and the United States Navy Nurse Corps, and from it will also be drawn contingents for service under other allied flags than our own. The enrollment goes on at the rate of 1,000 volunteers a month. On a basis of an army of a million men over 80,000 nurses will be required for active duty in the present year. Up to the last of February over 7,000 nurses had been actually detailed to duty or were ready for Immediate mobilization. So it is seen that there are none too many, in view of the requirements of the service, since between time of enrollment and actual assignment to duty the nurse must undergo a period of special study and training for war service, and the work of organizing and mobilizing this "army of mercy’Ms no'small thing. A Nurse Is a Soldier. Surgeon General Gorgas has called upon the Red Cross to supply 5,000 nurses for the Army Nurse Corps by June 1, and if this quota is forthcoming the total number detailed will have reached 12,000. So the mobilization of another 18,000 to 25,000 by Jan. 1, 1919, will be a big problem to solve. Now, a nurse Is a soldier. She is recognized officially by the government and included in those eligible for soldiers’ and sailors’ war Insurance. A purse goes into actual danger of wounds and death by shell fire and bomb explosion. Her work is arduous, exacting, calling for tlie finest qualities of mind and heart She is the right hand of the surgeon, , So, because nursing is primarily a woman's job, the war nurse is properly the peculiar responsibility of the women of America. While the trained nurse is urged to volunteer the risk of her life at the front, the American woman at home is commanded by every dictate of patriotism and humanity to support tu-r “fighting sister.” The nurse fights pain, disease and death, making her sacrifice with amazing cheerfulness and enthusiasm.