The public health nurse in tornado relief.

Abstract

Editor's Note— The value of using public health nurses in disaster relief work was forcefully argued in an April 1929 article in The Public Health Nurse, written by Elizabeth G. Fox, then director of public health nursing services for the American Red Cross. Fox aimed directly at recruiting public health nurses for service by arguing that there were scarcely any disasters that did not also present “grave health hazards.” She identified two main types of service in which public health nurses might be engaged: care of the sick and injured, and care and protection of refugees in centers or shelters. Caring for the sick included provision of first aid, augmentation of local hospital staff, emergency hospital organization and operation, and home care. But true public health work would be accomplished in temporary shelters. Nurses would assist with inoculation and vaccination; segregate, care for, and supervise individuals with communicable diseases; perform sanitary inspections; refer the severely sick and badly injured to hospitals; and care for those who were ambulatory.A young public health nurse vividly recounted her experience of those duties described by Elizabeth Fox. Jennie MacMaster cared for residents of the town of Benton, Illinois following a disastrous tornado storm that cut a wide path through the southern part of the state in 1925. Originally published in the July 1929 issue of The Public Health Nurse, the tone of this first of a three‐part series on nursing during times of natural disaster may mildly offend modern sensibilities. The enthusiasm with which MacMaster and her colleagues approached their nursing duties is unmistakable, however. MacMaster's description turned Fox's professional arguments into compelling images and the promise of adventure for the average reader of 1929.