Then, the second and third contentions will elaborate on her will to better both herself and others. Most importantly, Brave Orchid demonstrates that formulating medicine and delivering babies is no job for the weak-hearted.
Brave Orchid follows her path of heroism by offering help to citizens in an effort to make her community a safe and healthy place. After the first battle of Bull Run Clara realized that there was a tremendous need for medical supplies and her true skills and what would become a lifelong passion were revealed.
The success that Clara Barton had with securing adequate funds, supplies and assistance was so successful that her ad hoc work led to her being granted a general pass to travel with Union ambulances to provide comfort and care to the wounded.
Her only official position during the war was as a superintendent of nurses in Major Genl. She comes from a very religious family who always volunteers with charities.
Her passion is ignited by the catastrophic events that occurred during the war and plague. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. The work she did not only as a nurse but also as a combat nurse as well. She along with 63 other nurses from her Pennsylvania hospital risked their lives to save the brave men fighting in the First World War.
This essay lays out the life of Fairchild from her early years to her short career as a nurse as well as the detailed letters she sent home that made history in nursing. Her brave heroics and selflessness must never be forgotten in the field of nursing and should be used as a guide on how nurses should pride themselves in their profession. She describes the filth of her nursing station, much like Florence Nightingale had concerns about.
Without the letters to home the story of Fairchild might have been forgotten and the nursing profession would have lost a great attribute to its commitment to the patients and their …show more content… Her nursing career was short but she will forever have a lasting effect on the profession.
I am with an operating team about miles from our own Base Hospital, closer to the fighting lines. I'll sure have a lot to tell about this experience when I get home. I have been here three weeks and see no signs of going back yet, altho when we came we only expected to be here a few days. Of course, I didn't bring much with me. Had two white dresses and two aprons, and two combinations. Now can you imagine trying to keep decent with that much clothing in a place where it rains nearly every day.
We all live in tents and wade through mud to and from the operating room where we stand in mud higher than our ankles. It was some task, but dear old Major Harte, who I am up here with, got a car and a man; to go down to our hospital and get us some things. He brought me six clean uniforms and aprons, beside heaps of notes from all the nurses, letters from home and all kinds of fruit and cake. We made the trip up to this place in an auto-ambulance miles through France.
Oh I shall have books to tell when I get home. Chief Nurse Julia Stimson was concerned for the nurses she sent for temporary duty at the casualty clearing stations.
Then after fourteen hours of this with freezing feet, to a meal of tea and bread and jam, then off to rest if you can, in a wet bell tent in a damp bed without sheets, after a wash with a cupful of water I hope by next summer I can be home to help eat the peaches Irma tells me you are putting up.
One of the girls brought me some great big, dandy ones a day or two ago, but they were so bitter I couldn't eat them. Just as soon as I get home I am going to get dresses all colors of the rainbow, but never again blue serge or a blue felt hat. Gee, now I know how the kids in orphan asylums must feel when they all have to wear the same kind of clothes. Another of our operating team left for a place further up the lines this am. They went to relieve Dr.
Mitchell, Dr. Packard and Miss McClelland, who have been up there since July 21st, and who are tired out. This team will take their place so they can come home.
Rained some last night and is frightfully windy and cold. I put on some woolen clothing for we do not have any fires in the hut yet, but in spite of two pairs of stockings my feet are cold. Right now I stopped writing and got two hot water bottles and have my feet on one and the other in my lap. Please write letters often, they mean more to me than a package, for I get a little homesick sometimes.
Had a letter from the States this week and was glad, for being sick this far from home is no fun, but everyone has been fine to me. My room is filled with flowers they bring me, and fruit galore. Miss Dunlop does everything she can to make me comfortable and came in and talked with me every couple of hours.
She was not destined to tell the stories she mentioned. Nurse Fairchild died on Jan. Yet her letters home provide a window into a period of Nurse Corps service that is often misunderstood, and carry her story across miles and years.
If the base hospital, where the 64 volunteers faced 2, beds, had seemed daunting, the Casualty Clearing Stations must have seemed even more so.
In August , Fairchild wrote to her mother: "We all live in tents and wade through mud to and from the operating room where we stand in mud higher than our ankles.
Chief Nurse Julia Stimson, who remained at the Base Hospital, was concerned for her nurses who went to the casualty clearing stations, but knew they were strong. She wrote of all that they endured: "What with the steam, the ether … the odor in the operating room … sewing and tying up and putting in drains while the doctor takes the next piece of shell out Then after fourteen hours of this … off to rest if you can … one need never tell me that women can't do as much, stand as much, and be as brave as men.
Nelle Fairchild Rote, Helen's niece, agrees. How could anyone say she was not a veteran, too? The sight of seeing wounded soldiers becoming wounded again could be very distressing for the nurses and doctors to repeatedly witness especially in the middle of the night.
Helen like so many other nurses expected to have wounded soldiers from bombs and shelling going on but everyone was in complete shock when the mustard gassing attacks started. She unfortunately experienced treaties being broken when it came to mustard gas use which eventually caused a large-scale of poisons being used and also included chlorine and phosgene gases being used as well on the battlefield [8].
Mustard gas use was by far the worst of the three and German forces used it for only two weeks prior to Helen arriving to Ypres-Passchendaele.
Once gas was started to be used "at least one in every 10 shells was gas" and at times some gases could cause horrible affects long after the shelling stopped [8].
When an attack occurred Helen and other nurses had to scramble to get their masks on but get masks put on their patients as well which resulted in nurses suffering from "gas fright" or "gas mania" where they constantly worried about being gassed.
During mustard gas use, if a soldier was contaminated with it on their clothes it could eventually affect everyone treating that one soldier and nurses had to take special precautions to prevent this from happening [8].
Helen continued to place her own life at risk so that she could continue to care for the wounded soldiers and those affected by mustard gas and other gasses. Helen volunteered to be at the front-line where she was later exposed to the gas when she gave up her mask to a soldier she was caring for at the time but also could have repeated exposure to mustard gas from what is learned from it now Rote, N.
It is possible that this exposure caused her to "develop tonsillitis and then intractable abdominal pain and vomiting" Rote, N. Helen would write home to her mother on a regular basis during one of these letters she wrote "we wear uniforms all the time, and our street uniforms are heavy dark blue serge, made very military, one piece, with big broad pleats over the shoulders with rows of big, black buttons down both sides, and swirls, with panels front and back, made quite short little white bands around the collar and sleeves, and sort blue hats.
Simkin, J. Helen and her fellow nurses would have to make sure that not only her patients stay hydrated regularly but that they themselves stayed hydrated as well. Helen further stated that they did not like the uniforms at first but eventually warmed up to the idea of having to wear them, including how it gives them protection and when they go places they are not charged for things Simkin, J.
She continued to grow as a nurse during her time in the military and was experiencing many things that so many other nurses were not experiencing. She would write to her mother about where she was located and how close she was not only to the base hospital of being about miles from it but how close she was to the front lines.
She stated that when she was there for three weeks how they "see no signs of going back yet, although when we came we only expected to here a few days. Helen found it difficult to stay "decent" with little change of clothes especially when it would rain and at times rained every day Simkin, J. One such letter Helen writes to her mother about the experience she went through just to sail across the ocean to get to wear she would start her military career. She stated in one letter how she became seasick almost instantly and seemed to have felt like she was dying.
With Helen already being seasick and then adding on the reaction from having the paratyphoid shot would have made the entire eight day ride a horrendous one. Helen would continue to write home to her mom about the many experiences she witnessed and partook of, like hearing the star spangled banner being played and how it made her appreciate it own nation when she heard it for the first time on foreign land.
She continued to write home about the uniforms she had to wear and how they made her feel even worse when she wrote home about what one soldier had said "I didn't know American girls were so ugly" [15]. Even though a soldier had said that to her Helen still wanted to be at the front lines to help save their lives. Helen would always sign her letter home with "Heaps and heaps of love, your very own, Helen" [15]. During Helen's time spent working through the war she wrote home about the horrors she had to witness during it.
When she was located at the Ypres and during the "Third Battle of Ypres-Passchendaele, World War I" she wrote of one such instance of how causality areas were one of the most distressing sights she had to witness and further mentions how an enemy's bomb dropping during the dead of the night would cause the "re-wounding and killing of already wounded men" and she felt that not a single night would go by that a bomb was not dropped.
Helen exclaims how they would dig "below the level of the ground to form shallow graves, two by six, by eighteen inches deep" which they dig through their tent floors then nailing down an iron sheet, Helen states how they used this as protection from enemy gunfire and from exploding shells.
Helen would mention how impressed she was from the other women nurses who stood strong and did what they could to protect the wounded men and felt the were exceptionally brave women going and stated how a "night bombing is a terrifying thing, and those who are not disturbed by it possess unusual qualities. I believe the nurses showed less fear than anyone. Helen has spent so much time and effort taking care of the wounded men that she often forgot to take care of her needs first.
As previously mentioned she would give her gas mask to the wounded men. Helen like so many nurses enjoyed being a nurse even though her put her life in grave danger. Even through all the despair and horror she had hoped to return home and wrote "I hope by next summer I can be home to help eat the peaches Irma tells me you are putting up. One of the girls brought me some great big, dandy ones a day or two ago, but they were so bitter I couldn't eat them.
World War 1 abbreviated as WW1 was the first war to bring many countries fighting against each other. There were many casualties, conflicts, technological advances, and world wide changes. Although we don't know many reasons of why, we do know a few things that happened.
There were alliances that had been created between countries prior to the actual start of WW1, and this is important to remember because if one country declared war, it usually meant that a few more would as well in a domino effect in result of the alliances formed.
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