Diary of Alice Ross-King, 1917-1919 - Part 6

Captain. F. Brinkley R.A.     

He has passed forth into the unknown

light,

And yet what need of unavailing tears?

The book of life God called him to indite

lies nobly finished, Rest is now his Right,

Who toiled unceasing through the darkening

Years.

He buried not his Talent out of sight,

But greatly used these for the world's

delight -

Life welcomes death, as toilers welcome

night.

And since he guarded with a lovers care,

The honor and the glory of this land,

And gave him self that men might understand

All that was pure in her & good & fair,

Let her pay this high tribute to his dust,

Prove herself worthy of his swerveless

trust.
M.K.

Lecture on practical home nursing

-  for use in the series to

be given in the Lang Lang School

The funds so raised to be used

in defraying the cost of a Complete

set of Mee's "Children's Encyclopaedia"

for use in the school.

Ladies.

There is no need for me to

spend time just now speaking

of the purpose for which these

lectures are given, beyond

mentioning that the books

in question will be sent

up to Fell's on approval

as soon as this money

donated by you today, is

handed in as a first instalment
to Gordon & Gotch - by their
agent in Lang Lang - W. Fell.
They will be there for your
inspection but will not be
put into use in the school
untill payment is completed.
My reason for having them
sent down to Lang Lang
now is two fold. First
that they may stimulate
interest & help in collecting
the required ammount
& 2^nd so that we may decide
if the binding on the £11-11-0
set is strong enough to
withstand the expected wear.
The next grade of binding
is of course more costly.
In the 6 lectures to be
given I intend to follow
the course laid down by
the St John's ambulance
association & if any ladies
feel inclined to take the
examination at the end
of the period & get the
Certificate of the association
they may let me know &
I will guide their studies
to that end. But otherwise
I want to give you
a great deal that is not
contained in the St John's
Course. I want to make
these talks helpful to
you as the also who do not
want diploma's but
who do want more knowledge

to use in the emergency
of sickness in the home. I
think there is much that I
have seen in during the 13 years
I have lived here, that will
be useful to you when you
have sick folk to look
after.
During my training at
the Alfred Hospital &
when I was a sister there,
I was familiar with one
phase of nursing - and I
thought it the only possible
kind of nursing that would
give good results. During
my 4½ years at the war
I discovered that there were
possibilities of releiving 
suffering & doing much
good work with out

the beautifully equipped

wards, the perfect routine,

the plentiful supply of

everything, that is always

at hand in the large

hospitals of Melbourne -

Then I came to live here

in the Country & I

discovered that there is

another phase of nursing

more difficult than by 

far, of acheivement, than

any hospital nurse is

called upon to meet. The 
wife or mother struggling

to nurse sickness in the 

home - where she lacks

real knowledge of how to

set to work, where she is

with out any of the Conveniences

of for sick nursing. She

has only the urgent - need

in abundance. She must

look after the sick one

herself. The Cost of a trained

nurse must be avoided,

or there is so little room

for one in the house. And

the great desire to keep

the sick one at home -

instead of sending him

away to Hospital.

Quite a number of women

are born nurses. Almost

any woman can learn a

great deal that will be

body & you will only add

worry & expenses to the present

trouble - If you first

calculate your possibilities

& devide your duties

(other than sick nursing)

with whoever you can

get to do them) or if there

is no outside help to be

expected, devide your work

into what must  be done

i.e meals & bed making

& what - Can be left -

scrubbing dusting &

The big Monday washing

& ironing - You will

avoid panic. To

illustrate what I mean

let us say that the Dr

has been to see the

sick person & he has told

you " 'Pneumonia" Pleurisy

"Rheumatic fever" or

some such awful thing.

The first thing to do

is to avoid panic in your

mind - That awful feeling

of disaster ^ & dismay which numbs

the mind & makes your

actions confused. Get 

an immediate grip of

yourself & push “worry"

detirminedly away -for the

moment at any rate.  The

Doctor is thinking at this

moment-"I wonder if they 

can run a nurse" - The

expense will be great but

the patient is pretty sick -"

Don't forget it is the Doctor's 

responsibility & if he sees

you are not able to grip

events straight off it will"

make him very uneasy about

leaving a seriously ill patient 

in untrained hands.  But

if you can force yourself

to self control & show

& inteligent willingness to

work under instructions

from the doctor, there are 

few medical men who 
are unwilling to give you
the Chance of Carrying on

for a few days at any

rate. Quite your best

routine action is to at once 

get a writing pad & pencil

& say "What am I to do

for him, Doctor"?  &  be

7

ready to write down all

instructions. Don't trust

your memory for any thing.

If you do, you will find

that there is some point

you'll feel uncertain upon

after Dr has gone. Also

the fact that you are writing

instructions down at

once, establishes Confidence

in the Dr's mind, that you

are possible as a nurse -

I cannot over emphasize

the importance of pencil

& paper in the sick room.

Needless  to say all well

trained professional nurses

chart every instruction given

by the Dr. - later filling in
the time & particulars of its

carrying out.

When the Doctor departs

your first act must be to 

go into the patient. If it be

a child - you will of course

go in to see all is well -

but if it be husband or other

adult or senior child, the

patient is always anxious to 

hear "what the Dr says"
& I need hardly say how

important it is to avoid

increasing the distress of the 

sick one by an artificial

manner.  Don't try to be

too bright & make light 

of the illness. Any one really

ill, knows that he is ill & 

if you say "Dr think it is

nothing much"  You at
once shake his confidence 

in the Doctor. Much better

is it to say " You have

such & such a disease but
Dr thinks you will be allright.

He has left some treatment

for you & told me exactly

how to do it - He does not

think you need a trained

nurse - when This is a 

much wiser Course than

attempting to hide from

the patient the nature of

his illness -  (with the one

exception of Cancer) you 

then get his co-operation in

the treatment ordered.  If

he is really sick you do.

It is only the patient who

is not very ill who resists

treatment.

As shortly soon after

this as possible I strongly

advise you to sit down

for 5 minutes with

your pencil & writing

pad & think out a

plan best working plan.

If it be a child who 

is sick draw up your

program to give the

father a share in the 

watching at night & 
allow yourself a stretch

of at least 2 hrs sleep.

You will probably

get snatches of sleep

besides, but  you want 

to feel that you can

rest that for time with out

feeling on the alert for
a call from the sick

child ^ early part of night child usually sleeps at his best  

being (5hrs)

At this time

too decide what room

will be the best to nurse

the patient in. If it

is at all possible - don't

move the sick one.  If 
the patient is sharing

a room with other

children - move the
well children in with

the father or into another

room - Any very sick

patient may be 'light-headed"

at night & his
delerium is undoubtly

increased by finding him them

selfves in unfamiliar surroundings

Children   -
particularly, are worried

by seeing strange objects

when they open their eyes at

night. You will want need to

have only a small bed

or couch for yourself

next to  the patients bed

 & as  well as the patients bed, in
the room. remove as

much  light furniture

as possible from the

room i.e. extra chairs

mats - anything that

Can be done without.

(not of Course heavy

stuff such as a wardrobe

dressing table etc. that

wd alter the character

of the room & be nearly

as bad as moving the

patient. Don't move the 

patients bed either as 

that alters the land marks 

for him. ) Ventilation

your reason for removing

extra furniture is to simplify

the Cleaning of the floor -

floor not swept but cleaned with wet cloth

If it is husband

or adult that is sick

The patient of Course must

have a bed room to

himself with the extra 

Couch for Nurse - You 

will find it a great help

if you think out your

arrangement of furniture

etc & perhaps write

it down before you begin.
It will help you to go

just quietly to work

without the worried

expression that thinking 
the matter out as 

work gives to one.

I know you are thinking

it difficult to sit down

& plan ahead like this

but beleive me it will

repay you well to do so.

You all Know What

a difference method

makes to house work - 

Careful preparations, to the 

results when Cooking -

how much time the expert

dress maker gives to her

measurements & Cutting

out of material Compared 

to the Amatuer who

just rushes at the job &

bungles along. Nursinges

needs much training & 

teaching - And the house

wife or Mother who is going

to attempt nursing the nurs-