Our Friends: Nurses
By Tom Quirk

Scituate - During the Civil War on December 26, 1862, a captured Confederate river steamer was commissioned USS Red Rover, the Navy’s first hospital ship. Its volunteer nurse contingent was three Sisters of the Holy Cross. Throughout the Civil War, a handful of nuns transported soldiers via a steamer from both sides, away from the front lines to be treated at Union hospitals in the North. The Army contracted women as nurses as early as 1898 and formed the Army Nurse Corps in 1901. While the Navy did have female nurse volunteers in naval hospitals and saw the need for a Navy Nurse Corps, they found congressmen reluctant to authorize it. Congress, being very political, was reacting to the concerns of Navy Corpsmen, in not wanting to be bossed by women. They also didn’t wish to appear as giving-in to the demands of suffragettes. The Navy pressed their case and on May 13, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt authorized the recruitment of women to serve as Navy nurses.

In 1844, a young Florence Nightingale wrote “God spoke to me and called me to his service.” Famed World War II Admiral William F. Halsey said that nurses “magnificently upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. naval service.” Just last week a recently diagnosed brain aneurysm patient described her nurse as “…one of the nicest and most professional people I have met. She has such a calming persona and way of dealing with stressful situations.” Three quotes over many years; all true! On May 6, 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed National Recognition Day for Nurses. Many of us have been or likely will be, well served by special nurses, as was President Reagan. From the earliest days, nurses have been providing compassionate nursing care in peacetime and during times of conflict.

Say thank you and hug a nurse!

About The Author
For more information you may contact Tom Quirk at (617) 513-3578 or via email at tfquirk@aol.com. For more information about brain aneurysms, please visit the Brain Aneurysm Foundation’s web site at www. bafound.org. The South Shore Brain Aneurysm Support Group meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month, from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. at Norwell Visiting Nurse Association, 91 Longwater Circle, in Norwell.