SURGICAL WARD NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 90

SURGICAL WARD NOTES.

THE CHEEPFUL CONVALESCENT. By John* Macxennaw One of the chief comforts of the bu&y hospital nurse is the convalescent. The memory of her kindness and attention is still fresh upon hinj, and, added to this, the knowledge he has gained of waid routine makes him very useful. He can wash dishes, wheel patients in arid out of the sun rooii, attend to the needs of the putipnts who are unable to get about, open and shut windows, "lilt and lower blinds, and is ready at a moment s notice with a grateful " Yes, Nirrse," to perform any odd work or unskilled duty that may crop up. Whilst being such a comfort to thp nurse, t.lie convalescent becomes even more comforting to the patients. To there, he becomes guide, counsellor, and friend. A species of secret society freemanship exists amongst those who have suffered and those who ai*e still bearing the pangs of pain. The strong man who has never suffere.l a day's illness may come with comforhrg words, and be welcome, but his words lack the sympathetic depth of those uttered by sufferers. " Right, old man ! Bea.r up, that's a good fa^ow. You know when I was "So the tale goes on, and in the revelation of another's suffering the tried patient forgets foT the moment tis own. It must not be taken for granted that all convalescents are equally complacent and useful ; but their inclinations all tend that way. There are degrees cf amiability and helpfulness, even a= there is divergence of glory among the stars. There was one amiuing character in the

ir Plunk«t Ward whose usefulness was very l- slight. H© would walk deliberately and \- cautiously up the ward — hie might havo 1. b9en taking the collection in the churcE — is taking orders as he went, and apologising, 10 just as deliberately, on has return journey 3- for not having performed them. He was da" braid Scot " and . had. greater faith 3- in " whuskey '' than in the doctor. " Man," he would say with great d-e-11 liberation, " gin I cud gamg doon to ;, M'Pheereon's an* get a gull o' speerits, g I'd no Re lang ■'n getting well." This sr stamp is, however, conspicuous by its t, rarity, and periodically a star convalesce cent will arise whose service becomes mcc dispensable alike to nurses and patients ; o so much so that they oil wonder how they st will get along when he goes away. j- Jack was one of this star species. His if services were in diemand day and nighc. t Th?'s mr.y teem a strange assertion to d make," but there are no doubt among my t readers those who will recognise Jack r gratefully, for those he helped were legion, h Useful and all as he was during _lhe day, 0 his ' great forte was helping the nighte nurse. By order of their calling, nurses d are one and all more or less lovable, but c the night nurse in question was of the c order of ideal nurses. As one patient, - summing up her virtues, tersely put it, a "She was going the whole time." Count- . ing the special wvrds, she had . 50 beds c to attend to. und. strange to say, she s found time to attend to the reeds of the B whole 50 patients. g There is no room here for the chapter . that lias baan writ-ten concerning tho J many virtues of this nurse. Suffice it to 5 say that Jack, for the time being, was t her right hand. " A drink " is one ci 5 the crivings of sickness, especially after 1 an operation. A patient, to all intents and purposes asleep, will waken, and his r first cry is : *' Please, Nurse, give me a [ drink." To Fome this luxury is forbidden. ■ To all others, Jack was henchman. He [ could concoct lemon drinks and dispense , barloy water equally as well as the nurse ; and never a thirsty one had to go without [ his drink. Perhaps the busiest hours of the night are between 3 and 6 a.m. It ; is the duty of the night nurse ! to hand everything over to the day nurse ( "spick and span." This entails much , solid labour — patients have to be bathed, \ beds made, temperatures, etc., taken and recorded, and the night's Teport — eveTy patient has to be reported on— made out. , In the midst of this whiiHl of work Jack ' was in his element. The feat that Jack couldn't do, or didn't do, or was not requested by one of those 50 patients to do isn't recorded. Even the canny Soot acknowledged his ability. When requested to do something, he would cautiously observe, "'A dinna Jcen hoo tae dae it, but I'll speer o' yon smart chappie yonner. He seems tae ken oe things." The secret of Jack's genius, however, lay in his anxiety to be of some use in the ward — and he' succeeded.