Untitled Page 50

-6-

only by a skilled person, and the trained nurse is
welcomed by the anxious relatives who are unable
to pay for such assistance.
This is especially true in surgical cases needing
aseptic dressing, in fevers needing ice-packs, fre-
quent visiting, and records of temperature, and in
the critical times of all acute cases.
In the majority of cases to which the visiting
nurse is called there is no one able to give the
sick person any treatment at all. It is these cases
that make her a necessity. She can spend an hour
or two at the house, make the invalid comfortable
for the day, fill any orders left by the physicians
and prepare or superintend the preparation of food.
Somebody from among the neighbours can wait
upon the patient during the nurse's absence.

In this way the District Nurse can take care of
the sick poor. But when there is absolute need of
constant watching, the patient is sent to a hospital.

Sometimes, if the funds permit it, a care-taker is
employed to watch the case continually under the
superintendence of the nurse. This is more neces-
sary where the asoociation that employs the nurses
limits their hours from 8 or 9 A.M to 5 P.M.

_ _

Catholic District Nursing.

The necessity for Catholic District Nursing is
evident from the nature of the work. A very large
proportion of the poor in cities is Catholic. The
Catholic District Nurse can keep her patients with-
in the influence of the Church. The children are
now often gathered into the so-called non sectarian
settlements through the agency of some District
Nurse. A Catholic can turn them readily to the
Church societies.

From the real good done by the non-Catholic
District Nurses and the great kindness shown by
them, it is not infrequent to find among the Catholic
poor the idea that one church is as good as another.
Though they themselves may not be willing to die
without the Sacraments, the children brought up in
neutral surroundings are not grounded in the same
faith. It would be wrong to say that this state of
affairs is general; but it occurs often enough to
cause Catholics to think that they themselves
should not refuse the means of gaining souls pro-
vided for District Nursing.

A nurse has greater opportunites among the
poor than anyone else. She can go where no other
person can find an excuse to enter. Sickness comes
to every house sooner or later. The nurse sees the
family as it is, not when on dress parade at the
expectation of other visitors. She becomes part of
the household and does not make a formal call
in the best room with all the members on their best
behaviour.

_____

Catholic District Nursing in San
Francisco.

District Nursing has been carried out in San
Francisco for some time and with much success by
several non-Catholic societies. About a year ago