| Whether you call them "angels of the | | | | soldiers wounded in battle. Her efforts |
| battlefield" or "madams of mercy" there is no | | | | eventually became the American Red Cross. |
| doubt that nurses from the civil war made a | | | | |
| tremendous contribution to the health and | | | | More than Just Hand Holders |
| well being of this nation as it struggled to | | | | |
| remain unified. The American Civil war was a | | | | Civil war nurses and volunteers performed a |
| bloody and brutal conflict that tested the | | | | variety of jobs. From battlefield clean up |
| resolve of the union and put individual human | | | | and surgical technicians to cooks and care |
| beings through extraordinary circumstances. | | | | providers, unit hospital workers saw it all. |
| Nurses not only endured those circumstances, | | | | Many nurses were empowered to give |
| but created the profession of nursing and | | | | medications such as morphine, and others used |
| organizations such as the Red Cross through | | | | their skill not just in nursing but in |
| their sacrifice. Here is some of the history | | | | reading and writing to help soldiers send |
| of the contributions that nurse made during | | | | last comments to loved ones. A civil war |
| this conflict. | | | | nurse followed up with soldier's kin after |
| | | | their death and returned their goods to their |
| Dorothea Dix | | | | families. They created the holistic approach |
| | | | of total care, as well as the hospice idea of |
| Dorothea Dix had worked with the infirm and | | | | allowing people to die with dignity. |
| mentally challenged for a long time before | | | | |
| the civil war started. When she recognized | | | | Nurses at Home |
| the need for battlefield nurses she | | | | |
| challenged the military leaders to create an | | | | With the men and the doctors off fighting the |
| Army medical core for nurses. They did not | | | | war, civil war nurses also had a job to |
| comply immediately but she rounded up nurses | | | | maintain the health care needs of people in |
| and started training them "the army way" - | | | | their home towns. Nurses began to work as |
| even making uniforms herself. Finally, the | | | | midwives, chronic care providers, prescribers |
| army created the Military Medical Brigade and | | | | of local herbs and homeopathy as well as |
| allowed Dix to work within the system to | | | | Physician's Assistants. Their skills were |
| provide health care to soldiers. She | | | | needed and used in a myriad of ways as they |
| eventually won the badge of honor. | | | | sought to treat the health care needs of the |
| | | | elderly and infirm, the crippled coming back |
| Clara Barton | | | | from the war (many with morphine addiction), |
| | | | and the grieving who lost someone or everyone |
| Working outside of the military | | | | in the war between the states. |
| establishment, Clara Barton also saw the need | | | | |
| for nurses to be organized and help both | | | | Many of the things today's nurses take for |
| sides of the war to get necessary medical | | | | granted were fought hard for on the |
| care and comfort. She worked to create an | | | | battlefields of this nation's bloodiest |
| organization of nurses and health care | | | | conflict. It is good to take time and |
| providers who would work without political | | | | remember the civil war nurses and all they |
| prejudice and serve the needs of those | | | | gave then and now. |