EVERY WOMAN NOT A NURSE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10207, 18 February 1919, Page 7

EVERY WOMAN NOT A NURSE

During a wounded man’s progress through hospitals and convalescent homes ho soon comes to realise that every, ifoman in the uniform of h nurse • is' -not ’ necfessaril v a nurse —that ' is, ill the sense of being a healer, or even a comforter; His injuries (says a writer in the London "Daily Mail") a seem to awaken some protective instinct, Plcviouslv dormant, which tells him that certain persons will hot benefit hiin by their ' ministrations, and while under their hands~he-is ; restless and may even suffer much. Training does not make • every - woman 1 a nurse, any more than it makes every man a soldier. One woman of this type I remember well. She was dainty and the model, indeed, of the conventional idea of the,. perfect.nurse... But let her be on night duty,, and many a patient ■suffered" discomfort or pain till morn‘mg rather than apply to her for relief. When she took the dressing, tho trolly bearing the medicaments and appliances well deserved its nickname ■ of "the agony wagon.” Her not unskilled hands, had no soothing power in them. The glow of sympathy was absent. ..She, was not. careless, but she seemed to think, that the chief, merit of a nurse lay in being able to probe calmly and ' endure, the unpleasantness of‘ her patients’ wounds, while at the same 'time' expecting - them to remain equally indifferent. ' - Remonstrance on the part of a patient was rare, but on one occasion a tough Scot gave on involuntary squirm and .groan,. "Wily,, Jo.ck!’’. said the .nurse, ’ •(‘where’s” all your usual fortitude?” 'T’ve got plenty o’ fortitude, nurse,” replied Jock, "but I’m thinkin’ it’s fiftytude 1 wad be needin’ wi’ you workin’ at me.” But the true-born gentle nurse, possessed of the magical healing touch—who can describe her? All the words in the world, will, not tell us how it is she ts''able to' quieten the restless, fevered patient by her mere approach. He will do anything she tells him, like an obedient child, and, hoping to please her, will painfully attempt many things ho cannot do. • Her touch during this ordeal of dressing seems'to possess an’anaesthetic quality, which infuses a kind of pleasure into the pain— if those who have ••nob been patients can understand such a thing. Sho (know* the instant of each excruciating twinge, and in some unexplainable way the patient feels deliciously soother almost as soon as suffered. "That's giving you n lot of pain/’ said one such woman to n man who was having little, jagged pieces of metal picked out of his face, -as she placed a supporting hand against his head. “Keep your hand there, nurse, and I’ll let you pick tin tacks out of mo all day." said the patient.