Watching the Roosevelts this week on PBS reminded me of the gains made by the nursing profession during WW II, largely due to the Cadet Nurse Corps and all the nurses who volunteered for service. While the war was over before many graduated, these students kept our hospitals going so that RNs could volunteer. I got to know Phyllis Slocum, who fought to serve overseas (she had a minor physical issue). In England, caring for wounded airmen, she adapted some of the Sister Kenny physical therapy methods to help injured airmen. Her sister, who worked with my aunt Eloise Jaeger, served in the WACs and was in charge of troop recreation in Paris (she had majored in recreation at the University of Minnesota, where my aunt was womens physical education faculty during the war, eventually becoming director of School of Physical Education for men and women, and started womens athletics while lobbying for Title IX). Coincidentally, while I didnt see this before church, this morning Pat Morse, friend and retired nurse, shared that she had attended the University of Minnesota as part of the Cadet Nurse Corps, from 1945-47 (classes were year round, to speed up their graduation). She told of how small rooms in Northrup Auditorium were re-purposed as nursing labs for bed-making and other aspects of the art of nursing. We will have another conversation this fall while I finish up an article on the history of nursing literature. Im amazed that Pat drove to Minneapolis for the reunion, and later learned that she still drives to Iowa to see her family there. The women of that era were remarkable, to say the least!
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 21:11:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015