220 WORCESTER
The Worcester ' Society for District Nursing
By the Superintendent, Rosebelle Jacobus , R. N.
DISTRICT or visiting
nursin g is not new; in fact,
it dates back to the days of
St. Paul. Between the pre­
Chr ist ian civilization and
our own the histori cal link
is brok en, but there is a
record covering nearl y 2000
years to th e present t imo,
The ear liest district nurse,
visitor and social worker was
Pheb e of Cenc hr ea, who
lived ()O A . D ., the fri end
and helper of Saint .Paul,
who says of her, " She hath
".lES' ~I()TnE HI:\(j."
been a succore r of man y
and of myself also. " She was a woman of wealth, im­
portance and di gnity, an d took upon h erself the office
of deaconess of th e Church of Cenchrea. From her day
the work of th e district nurse has never been unkn own.
In 1617, Vincent D e Paul went from Sp ain to Franc e.
H e settled in th e hospital and assisted with the work
of what would n ow be called the out- patien t dep art­
ment, meantime supervising th e work of th e visit ing
sisters, and soon decided th at in order to obt ain bett er
res ults ther e must be two distin ct departments, one for
th e regular visiting and one for nu rsing' th e sick,-hence
th e firs t society for district nursing, 1618, called th e
"Ladies of Cha rity." Ver y quaint and pract ical were
th e directions for the work of the members . '" Th e La­
di es of Char ity ' shall visit onl y thos e whose eases have
THE };URSES RE ADY FOR TH EI R DAIL Y CALLS.
MAGAZINE
been examine d and passed upon by the presid ent, assist­
an t and treasurer. The lady who visits shall get th e
nourishmeu t f'rom th e treasurer , cook it and bring it to
th e in valids, chee rfully an d kindly sa lute t hem on en­
tering their ap artments. She shall arrange a tray all
th e bed, spreading a napkin over it , an d pl acin g on it
a glass, sp oon and br ead r oll. Next she sh all wash the
sick per son 's hands, say grace, and th en , h avin g poured
out the soup and put th e meat in a pla te, she sh all a r­
range all in th e tray. Sh e shall kindly in vite th e sick
person to eat, doing all in a spirit of love as if dealin g
with her own child. She shall t ry to cheer the invalid
if downcast , cutting his f ood and pourin g ou t th e drink.
Thus having set th in gs goin g, if th ere is anyone at
hand she shall leave the rest to him and go on to the
next sick person, whom she shall treat in the same way .
She shall reme mber always to begin with those who hav e
some one to help th em and fini sh wi th tho se who ha ve
no one, so as to be able t o rem ain a long er tim e with
th em. In the evening, she shall r eturn with the suppe r,
and go through th e sa me ar range men t as before. Each
patient sh all receive as mu ch bread as is necessary . with
a qu arter of a pound of mutton or boiled veal for din­
n er an d as mu ch roast fo r supper, except on Sundays
and f easts, when boiled chi cken shall be given and two
or three t imes a week min ced p ie. Those who have no
feve r may get a pint of wine every day, half in th e
mornin g and half in the evening."
In 1782 we fin d an attempt a t cottage nursing in
Engl and. 'fhe R ev. Mr. Dolling, Vi car of Aldenham ,
raised subscr ip tions to send women for three month s '
 WOR CE STER MAGAZ INE 221
t raining in midwifery pati ent all the care and comf or t that skilled and trained
that they m ight wo rk han ds can give.
amon g t he village A visiting nurse is furn ished with out charge to those
wo men. I n 1867 di s­ una bl e to pay.
tr iet nursin g was well P atien ts in better eiren msta neos aloe expected to pay
estab lis hed in E ng ­ fr om fiv e cents up wards. When ahl e to pay th e r egular
land. I n th e U n ite d f ee of one dollar they arc r eferred to an hourly nurse.
S ta t es, in 1813, H possib le th e n urses will visit in th e mor-ning those
Ch arlest on, S . C., was cas es r epor ted the p r eviou s da y j those coming to the
th e fir st t o take up office bef ore twelve, th e af ter noon of th e sam e clay:
di st rict n ursing. The Th e n urses are f or the public and it is desired that
TH E SMILE TIIAT WON'T coxus OYF .
N ew Y ork City Mis­ physicia ns and othe rs interested in th e sick shall send
sionary Society in f or th em .
1877 was t he first to em ploy a regul a r tra ined nurse. Nu r ses are not ex pe cted to a tte nd mat ernity cases
Boston f oll owed in 1884, P hll aclrlphla in 1886, D ela ware dur ing' labor , but after con­
in 1890, Chicago i n 1892, a nd W orcester in 1892. On finemen t will ca re for moth er
.Iannary 1, 1909 , th ere were 500 asso cia tio ns i n t he and in fa n t u ntil re cove ry .
United States emp loy ing ove r 1300 t rain ed nurses, One hu nd red a nd eigh tee n
Th e W or cester Societ y for Di at rict N ursing was ph ys icians asked fo r our ser­
organized in 1892, incorporated in 1899 , is snp p orted v ices i n 1908, an d $1 ,957 .45
hy volu n ta r y contr ibut ions, empl oys six grad ua tes and was used f or the su pp or t of
three pupil n u rses. This inclndes th e n urse whose sal­ the S ocietv. In 1909 we
ar y is paid by t he Worcester 'I'uber cu losis R eli ef Asso­ n eed at least $2,000 more, if
ciati on. Tw o pup il nurses a re f urn ish ed by the City the opportun ities to increase
Hospi tal an d on e from th e Memor ial H ospital. Th e an d im prove the work offer ­
Society 's headqua r t ers is at 1 E lm Pl ace. Kin d f ri end s, ed th e S ociety are used.
chu rch a nd other societ ies have s uppli ed us wit h sheets, T he f ollowi ng' is from a
pillow-cases, ba by cloth es, luxu ri es a n d necessar ies f or nurse 's dai ly report :
the pati ents, and ex t ra pl easu r es at Chr-ist ma s a n d " i\f y first ca11 was a n ew
East er. cas e- -a child with pn eumo­
Th e basi c princip les upon whi ch t he work is ad mi n ­ nia . I rea ched the house a nd IN THE T UBEKctl.O~ ! ~ 'l'E:-IT.
istered are that t he nursing of t he si ck in th eir hom es fou nd t he occupants all Ital ia n . A man stood in th e
should be done seriously and adequa tely , in structi on door -way , and , as I came alon g, ca lled over his shoulder,
being inciden t to it and not the prim ary mot ive. 'The n u rse. ' Ont of another d oor -wa y ca me a woman
Since t h e addition to t he staff in D ecemb er , 1908, of who said, ' H er e, lady.' Inside t he ro om, ly ing' on two
the nurse for maternity cases, there have b een si xty chairs, was a chi ld of two years, f ully d ressed even to his
pati ents u n der h er care . Visiting h ours are fro m 8.30 sho es. The temp era t u re was taken and regis tered ]()4%.
a.m. to 5.30 p .m. T he nu rse 's wor k is to v isi t. h er pa­ A mor e u n comf ort able little cha p I h av e never seen.
tient s once or t wice a d ay if n ecessary , seeing t hat the Whil e try in g to persu ade the mo th er- to let me re move
physician s ' orders a rc ca r ried out , an d to br ing to eac h some of t he cloth in g a nd bathe t h e littl e f ello w, just as 1

AFTER T HE N URSE H AS T ID IED UP T HE nooxr.

 ~~~ WORCESTER
was about to give up th e
.i ; . task ill despair, the father
~, .r.- •• ,; .. appeared, and npon learn­
~tJ:. :' ./i
. I
'( I ing' th e troubl e, pushed his
wife asid e with no tender
1 touch,
and said, ' Go on , sh e
• I a woman , know nothing'. Me
be ill hospital and know .
Take everything off, and
1. wash for fev er ; do him
good. ' 1'1y heart ached for
the mother, so sure her boy
was about to be sacrificed,
but I began my work , mean­
while askin g abou t the doc-
ON TH EIR DAT L Y ROl i:-;J)1' . tor 's order s, whi ch th e man
gave in a seemingly in klligcnt manner. A sp onge bath
of soap an d water, and alcohol rub, the mouth clean ed, a
shee t put over th e old sofa (an improvement on the
chair ) , the boy sleeping in his clean , fr esh bed , wi th
only one garment on his now cool little bod y , and in
walk ed th e doctor. I spoke of his order carri ed out for
bathing, etc.; he looked at me, looked a t th e child, an d
at the discarded clothing, laughed and said, 'This is my
first visit here ; th e pati ents I ask ed you to see last
night a re up stairs, two of them , in the same condition. '
So up stai rs I went, and began over again . It was t en
o 'clock bef ore I left my Italian friends, after promising
to call in th e late afternoon.
" My second call was to a woman dying of tuber culo sis.
A f ourteen-year-old girl is th e housekeeper and mother
to the three young er child re n . The hou se was ne at and
clean, the patient was as clea n as th e little gi rl cou ld
keep her, but sh e was r estl ess and in much p ain from
cons tan t coughing and th e bed sores on her back. After
th e ba th, wh en her bed had heen freshly mad e, her
hail' comb ed and teeth cleaned , and had taken some
nourishm ent I hall brought fOI> her, she th ought she
could sleep, and , after giving some advice to th e littl e
housekeep er, I went on my way.
"My thir-d, f ourth and fifth cases wer e very close
together and all surgical dressing-women who had been
operated on in th e hospitals, and permitted to come
home on con dition that th e d istrict n urse giv e th e nee­
esssa ry care.
" It was now 12.30, and I went home to lunch,
" The first visit in th e af ter noon was to an old 111 a n
with a. leg ul cer , whi ch is healin g slowly under con­
stan t car e and cleanlin ess. At fir st he did no thin g but
grumbl e and f uss when he canght sight of a nurscs
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MAGAZINE
uniform, as h e cons ide red all women 'a fool bunch,' a
conclusion reach ed after he h ad wedded his third wife.
Now he says he doesn't care whi ch nurse comes to him,
as each one is 'a spot of sunshine, '
"The next call is to a bab y of three months, slowly
st ar ving to death because n o f ood can be found to agree
with him. .At birth a nd up to two mon th s he was st rong
and well , but his mother one sad day, after weeks of
temptation , went on a spree and poor baby was so
neglected that his recovery is doubtful. A n eighbor
called the nurse's attention to the pitiful cry ing of the
child, and upon inv estigatin g she fou nd th e mother
drunk on the floor and the p oor, little, dirty scrap of
human ity on a bed almost in a state of exha ust ion . Th e
mother is heart-broken, for she r eally loves her baby,
and is now followin g instructi ons faithfully . The baby
has an oil rub three tim es a day-twice by th e mother
and once by the nurse, and the f ood is prepared daily
by the nurse.
"The next visit was to Mrs. B- , the pri ze p ati ent of
the Society and a p et of us all . Daily h er kn ees must
be steam ed and rubbed, her braces adj usted tha t she
may walk around her room ; one year ago sh e walked
f or th e first time in yea rs. Sh e usu ally has a mornin g
visit, but is always glad t o wait her tum when more
ser ious cases need us.
"The ni nth visit was t o a
little pneumonia conv ales­
cen t, a dear littl e gir l of
eight. 'I'he evening t emper­
ature taken , a sp onge bath
given, and inst ruc ti on as to
1ICr nou rish men t , then back
to my Italian fri end s. All
three te m per-at ures 'wer e
ver y high . Th e two upstair's
wer e at te nded fjrl:lt-th e
usu al treat-men t of alcoho1
spong es, etc. Th e boy clown ­
stairs seemed a little better.
and fa r more comfo r table
than in th e momin g. This UOT II ,\ J{)IS rri.r ..
tim e th ere was no re sistance from th e moth er, she rea 1­
ized what the mornin g tr eatment had done , and deeply
appreciated it. Now she wanted t o help, so I explai ne d
how sh e could spon ge th e boy during th e ni ght, and
showed her how to prep ar e th e n ourishmen t. When I
left her, sh e shook h ands a nd in her broken En gli sh
said, by way of thanks, 'I lik a y ou too mu ch . ' "
'I'he averag e for the year is sixty-four visits a da y
each workin g clay of 1908,
Th e follo wing are th e offi cers of th e assoc iat ion ~
Board of D ire ctors: Presid en t. 'Miss Ira ri-iet g , Clarke,
9 Chestnut Street ; Vice-presid ent, Mr s. Edwin Brown.
70 Elm S t reet ; 'I'reasurcr, M 1'8 , H omer Gage, 8 Chest ­
nut S tre et; Clerk, Mr s. Henry J . Gross, 2:1 May Street.
D i r entot-s : :i\fiss Josephine C, Aldrich , )\[rs. Frederi ck
n . Baker, Miss Isabel 1\1. Cromp ton. Mr s. Ed gar A ,
Fi sh er , Mrs , '1'. H ovey Gage, .Ir ., Mr s. David H arrower ,
.Ir., Mrs. Geor ge M, Basse tt, Mrs. Ma tth ew J. Whittall ,
Advisory Board : Rev, B ernard S . Conaty, Mr. Ale x­
ander D e'\V' itt, Dr. Thomas H . Gage, Dr. 'Warren R.
Gilman, Dr. L eonard P. Kinnicutt, Rt. R ev. Al exand er
II , Vinton, Dr. Samu el B. Woodw ard .