A Nurse's Life in War and PeaceLaurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
History
A Nurse's Life in War and Peace
Laurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
Military nursing; Nursing -- Great Britain; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Medical care
There are a lot of men very ill. I was supposed to have charge on night
duty of the medical side (about 250 beds), and that included the enteric
tents with about 100 beds. They seem to have a mania for shifting the
men about, so it was often difficult to find the bad cases; there were
generally only night orderlies in the enteric tents, so that men who
needed much attention in the night were supposed to be sent to the
enteric line, whether they had enteric or not. To escape this risk of
infection for them, we sisters used to try to do all for them in their
own tents as long as we possibly could, and the poor chaps were so
grateful to us, and the day sisters (who were equally keen not to have
them sent down) used to tell us that the men always assured the medical
officers that they had everything they wanted in the night. You know how
at home if a sick man wakes up, and is alone for a few minutes, he
thinks he is being neglected, but these poor chaps must have many lonely
hours in the dark tents, and yet they never complain; they know that so
many are dying of enteric, and they seem to have a horror of being sent
down to that line.
It really was pretty horrid paddling about in the dark and the long
grass between the tents; and it was so slippery with mud and rain that
twice I fell down, and it took some time before I could find my lantern
and the kettle which I had just boiled up, and was carrying down to make
a poultice for a poor chap with pneumonia: it was very annoying, as, of
course, it took time to reboil the kettle. The day sister leaves
everything ready, with the linseed in a bowl, so that I have only to
pour the water on, and then I put everything all ready for the next one;
in this way we can get fairly hot poultices, though the tents are a long
way from the fire.
The men used to be so sorry for us being so constantly wet; and many a
convalescent man used to beg me to let him stay awake with a man who was
very ill and give him his drinks, &c., promising to come and fetch me if
he wanted anything, so that I need not go round so often,--but, of
course, I could not let him do that.
One man (a New Zealander) said to me, "Well, Sister, I have often
grumbled at having to do sentry-go for two or three hours on a wet
night, but I never knew that any woman had to do it for twelve hours at
a stretch; I shan't grumble at my share again in a hurry."
The other day we had in a big convoy of eighty sick and wounded from
General French's column. They had been eight days in ox waggons coming
seventy-two miles; poor chaps, they were glad to get into beds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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