e gripping much of the United States got me wondering what it must have been like to work the floors/units in the days before most all hospitals had central AC.
When I was young and worked first as a JV then an aide there were still many old hospitals in NYC that didn't have central air, but those big ole barns of buildings did have windows that opened and for certain areas/rooms window ACs were put in where possible. Other than that it was a constant (for me that is) running back and forth to the ice machine to keep pitchers full. It was the nurses one felt sorry for; heat tends to bring out the cranky in people and when they are sick already that is not a good combination. Worse many head nurses/supervisors would'nt relax dress code so those gals were often stuck in "whites",nylons, and possibly caps for the duration of their shift.
Ice cream was in high demand with staff and patients alike. Other than that the only other cool "food" was the cursed Jell-0! *LOL*
And how many on that list either died, bailed out, or were deemed incompetent? Maybe the hookers and drunks were the only ones left to stick it out - not saying that's all that was left- just that they were part of the beginnings of nursing.
Didn't Flo also croak from an STD??? I heard that somewhere in nursing school....
OK- whatever :) My point was that conditions stunk. She did a lot of good- but she's not worthy of genuflecting - HA.... relax ! I've never lost sleep thinking she did or didn't die from the clap, or whatever. And even if she had, infection control wasn't exactly in its prime back then- she could have caught something completely from taking care of someone else.
Ahhhhhh......Cook County. They a few years ago finally built a new structure, a state of the art facility!!!!
Before then......we worked our butts off in non air conditioned wards where O2 was delivered by the huge green tanks at the bedside and huge fans were the only way to survive the city heat. Try full trauma gear on a 98 degree friday night 100% humidity. We would sick our heads in the fridge to cool off and huge fans a must (don't tell anyone...LOL) we walked around with water in our pockets and yes drank in front of the patients. Ice baths in cold metal basins and everytime you walked into a room you refreshened your cloth....wet your hair.
God bless scrubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was really HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! when I would get home I would turn my airconditioner so high it would fog the windows.....
OMG how could you stand that ? I have a/c and with it set 65 it is still 78 in here I am rosting I have 3 fan on right now:uhoh3: . my aunt just called she lives in maine and has NO a/c she said she never had it put in because they have never needed it . she said it was 102 today:eek: there and she spent the day in her car A friend of mine lives in las vegas and he works in a where house with no a/c he said it was 130 in the where house :eek:
OK- whatever :) My point was that conditions stunk. She did a lot of good- but she's not worthy of genuflecting - HA.... relax ! I've never lost sleep thinking she did or didn't die from the clap, or whatever. And even if she had, infection control wasn't exactly in its prime back then- she could have caught something completely from taking care of someone else.
Geez, is she your great great aunt or something?
I don't think she was trying to be hostile. It was a rumor (and quite a popular one) started by someone that didn't want her to be praised by the catholic church. I think he also claimed she was an atheist, so you can tell his facts were spot on. All of my nursing professors were all under the impression that she had died of syphilis, so yeah, that one really caught hold, and I am sure it is taught to this day lol.
I don't think she was trying to be hostile. It was a rumor (and quite a popular one) started by someone that didn't want her to be praised by the catholic church. I think he also claimed she was an atheist, so you can tell his facts were spot on. All of my nursing professors were all under the impression that she had died of syphilis, so yeah, that one really caught hold, and I am sure it is taught to this day lol.
Since Miss. Nightingale was a born "lady" one way to drag her character through the muck is to spread a rumor of her having some sort of nasty woman's disease. This of course would have meant sexual contact of some sort with an infected male, behaviour no unmarried respectable lady much less any woman of the Victorian era was supposed to engage in. Of course then and as in the 1950's and now it did go on, but if the female was infected with disease or became with child her repuation was ruined. This is what one supposes again those who spread rumors about FL are attempting.
Also since FL and her nurses tended mainly soilders and officers during the Crimean War (both groups with high VD infection rates at that time), the implication being she lay with one or more of the male patients and or others in the military.
Just as an aside, speaking of Victorain/Edwardian women in the "UK" and VD, many young newly married women were infected with either gonorrhea and or syphilis by their husbands. This expains the number of "sickly" infants and or children many of whom died.
With respectable young ladies off limits (they were expected to go to their marriage beds virgins), young men took their pleasures elsewhere. Prostitutes and or other low women were the usual outlet, and given one of the few respectable avenues of employment for "gentlemen" was the military many men were infected after postings abroad. Indeed men whom travelled often abroad such as sailors, civil servants etc all could come back home with a little something extra.
Isabella Beeton, of the famous book on household management fame is rumored to have been infected with syphilis by her husband.
:eek:
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http://www.trivia-library.com/b/famous-people-cause-of-death-florence-nightingale.htm