Trained Nurses for our Allies

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume IX, Issue 3, 1 July 1916, Page 160

Trained Nurses for our Allies

In deciding to send twenty trained nurses to France — not merely to nurse wounded and. sick Australian. Soldiers, but to nurse wherever the French Military authoiities may require them — the New South Wales division of the Red Cross Society is taking a step Which will meet with public approval, says the Sydney Herald of a recent date. It is a gift to Franco. It is a recognition of the wonderful heroism of the French soldiers, who m beating back the enemy from the gates of Paris are not only fighting their own battle, but are also fighting ours — fighting, indeed, the battle of civilisation and freedom against a barbaric foe. France has been wonderful all through the war, but never quite so wonderful as now, m the face of the German battering-ram at Verdun, If the German losses there are enormous, We may be sure that the great battle is also taking a heavy toll amongst the French forces. The wav is draining the manhood of France. If by sending nurses to that great country we can help m some measure to conserve its manhood, it is worth the doing ; and that is the view of the Red Cross Society. Of trained muses France has none too many. She is indeed, deplorably short of them. When the cleavage between church and State occurred, large numbers of devoted, nursing sisters who were attached to the religious organisations were lost to France, and, although no effort has been spared since the War broke out to train other women, the demand for competent nurses has been greater than the supply. That demand has increased during recent months. From the "Evening Post." Note.— Since the commencement of the war, besides the large number of nurses

belonging to the Imperial services of Great Britain, Australia, and Canada who have been working m France, there have also been a great many for direct service under the French War Office. These belong to a Corps called the French Flag Nursing Corps and have been recruited, by Mrs. Bedford Fenwick, at the request of the French Government. Several New Zealand nurses have served with distinction m this Corps. Among these are Nurses Ella Cooke, Lind, Hitchcock, Jordan, McLeod, McMillan, and others, who were first under the Red Cross but have since joined the Q.A.I.M.N.S.E. It is probable that by this time our New Zealand Army Sisters will have arrived m France, where they will have, no doubt, French as well as British patients. In a recent number of the British Journal of nursing is an account of a meeting m support of the French Flag Nursing Corps, the President of which is the "Viscountess de la Parouse. Miss Elison is the Matron m charge of the Corps and she travels up and down the Front, seeing the nurses and smoothing out difficulties. It is mentioned that "the little Coprs of splendid nurses recruited not only m the United Kingdom but m Canada, Australia and New Zealand, had taken care of over 27.000 Wounded." Some of the Frenchmen thought the English nurses washed their patients too much. Miss Ellison explained the different national outlook to one doctor, saying that m England a bath was a daily necessity, m France an anniversary. The nurses had had many difficulties to encounter, especially m regard to language and by wrong use of Words such as tc jo veux," instead of "je voudrais," unintentionally gave offence.