HONOUR OUR NURSES.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 19, 8 March 1918, Page 6

HONOUR OUR NURSES.

In writing of the work of nurses in Mesopotamia, tho correspondent of a London paper says;—On this subject we have received a letter from a correspondent at Basrah, who describes a thrilling incident which happened there a little while ago. One of the river sick convoy steamers arrived in tho morning with a heavy convoy of sick from Baghdad. Two sisters came on shore for an hour or two, and started back to their steamer in a bcllum, a native boat very similar to a gondola. Suddenly they saw a man struggling in the river. The natives were ordered to pull towards him, and he was dragged on board, at imminent risk of tho capsizing of the boat. The man was bleeding profusely, and quite unconscious, and his rescuers saw, to their horror, that his foot was almost severed by tho bite of a shark. The arrest of the hemorrhage occupied their attention so completely that it was not until after the man had recovered consciousness that they recognised him. They had saved their own ship’s captain! Ho afterwards made a quick recovery in hospital, but, although tho foot itself was saved, his complete use of it w r as doubtful, as all tho nerves had been completely severed. It is not only in such individual cases that our nurses show their heroism. During one of the worst heat waves ever experienced in Mesopotamia—the temperature was between 120 and 130 degrees—the nursing staff worked day and night unceasingly. Our correspondent adds: “I have seen nothing to equal the work and the self-devotion of the sisters, and I should like them to have every praise and honour given to them that is possible. ’ ’