Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Need for nurses - 1918 influenza pandemic
A women describes the importance of the work of nurses and of the Red Cross in training them.
Audio
Transcript
[Woman speaking] Well the Red Cross give girls or women training in home nursing at the beginning of every year and if girls would only take that training from my experience of the epidemic it was one of the best things that they could do. It was a very good training for 3 months and if anybody came into the hospital when we were desperate you could even take a temperature, or make a bed or a pulse or had any idea of nursing we would fall almost on our necks with gratitude because we didn't have to show them around you see. We just said get to it and we look after them you see.
So ever since then I worked a good deal in the Red Cross you see in Hastings and Havelock and my great idea is to get every girl trained that I could in this course of home nursing. We'll have epidemics again and we'll have emergencies again probably of the Civil Defense now is working as you know probably don't you. Well what they wanted is people who can nurse. Don't you agree?
This sound clip is taken from a 1967 radio documentary by Jim Henderson called 'The Great Plague' .
Sound Archives / Nga Taonga Korero
Reference: TCDR562
A women describes the importance of the work of nurses and of the Red Cross in training them.
Audio
Transcript
[Woman speaking] Well the Red Cross give girls or women training in home nursing at the beginning of every year and if girls would only take that training from my experience of the epidemic it was one of the best things that they could do. It was a very good training for 3 months and if anybody came into the hospital when we were desperate you could even take a temperature, or make a bed or a pulse or had any idea of nursing we would fall almost on our necks with gratitude because we didn't have to show them around you see. We just said get to it and we look after them you see.
So ever since then I worked a good deal in the Red Cross you see in Hastings and Havelock and my great idea is to get every girl trained that I could in this course of home nursing. We'll have epidemics again and we'll have emergencies again probably of the Civil Defense now is working as you know probably don't you. Well what they wanted is people who can nurse. Don't you agree?
This sound clip is taken from a 1967 radio documentary by Jim Henderson called 'The Great Plague' .
Sound Archives / Nga Taonga Korero
Reference: TCDR562