Monday, April 25, 2011

Kneeling in Blood: Who Is Kate Cumming? Part 4


This series on Kate Cumming is dedicated to all those nurses who give of themselves to heal others. Your kindness, your touch, your wisdom and your unselfish dedication can never be appreciated enough.

To all my sister and brother nurses,
Thank You.


I have been fascinated reading Kate's diary. Separated by 150 years, there are so many experiences, so many feelings she writes that are still felt and witnessed by nurses today.

Excerpts from Kate's journal:

"April 11th: Miss Booth and myself arrived at Corinth today. We are at the Tishomongo Hotel, which, like every other large building, has been taken for a hospital. The yellow flag is flying from the top of each.

Mrs. Ogden tried to prepare me for the scenes which I should witness upon entering the wards. But alas! nothing that I had ever heard or read had given me the faintest idea of the horrors witnessed here. I do not think that words are in our vocabulary expressive enough to present to the mind the realities of that sad scene.

Certainly, none of the glories of the war were presented here. But I must not say that; for if uncomplaining endurance is glory, we had plenty of it. If it is that which makes the hero, here they were by scores. Gray-haired men -- men in the pride of manhood -- beardless boys -- Federals and all, mutilated in every imaginable way, lying on the floor, just as they were taken from the battle-field; so close together that it was almost impossible to walk without stepping on them.

If I were to live a hundred years, I should never forget the poor sufferers' gratitude; for every little thing, done for them -- a little water to drink, or the bathing of their wounds -- seemed to afford them the greatest relief.

The Federal prisoners are receiving the same attention as our own men; they are lying side by side.

I sat up all night, bathing the men's wounds, and giving them water. Everyone attending them seemed completely worn out. I have been busy all day, and can scarcely tell what I have been doing; I have not taken time even to eat, and certainly not time to sit down."

"April 13th: Enjoyed a very good night's rest upon some boxes. We all slept below stairs, in the front room -- our baggage separating us from the front part of it, which is the clerk's office, and sleeping apartment of some dozen men.

Some slept on shelves. I slept so soundly that I did not even dream, as I was completely worn out with the labor of the day. I could realize how, after a hard day's marching or fighting, a soldier can throw himself upon the ground, and sleep as soundly as if he was on a bed of down."

KC

~~~
What nurse among us was not surprised when we entered the "real world" of nursing? Training and instructors left behind, we were alone to fend for ourselves in a sea of patients hurting, complaining, dying and being born. While few of us will have witnessed the horrors that Kate saw, we all know what it is like to work hours upon end, without rest and without food.

I have never had to resort to sleeping on boxes, but hurricane seasons have required nurses in my area, and others like it, to come in and sleep in the hospital in whatever east side VS west sideImage by sashamd via Flickraccommodations we could manage. One year, we turned an extra operating room into a sleep room for nurses.

Like Kate, modern day nurses sometimes often work longer hours than expected -- due to that heavier patient census or unexpected call in, or both. Sometimes, like Kate, we are literally on our feet the entire day, perhaps without breakfast, without lunch, sometimes without dinner.

The needs and safety of the patients must always come first. It is deep in the heart of the nurse to not only care for the patient, but to care about the patient. If that means personal sacrifice, the majority of nurses I know are quick to oblige. One line in Kate's journal seems to express the sentiment so completely:

"I have sometimes felt like making a vow to eat nothing but what is necessary to sustain life till the war is over, so that our soldiers can have the more."

Watching my fellow nurses, how they respond to adversity, how they pull together as a team to deal with emergency situations and how they support and encourage one another, makes me proud to be numbered among them. It makes me proud to be called a nurse.




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