Nurses

Lady Carnarvon was walking through into the front hall of the Castle, her devoted secretary Mary Weekes hurrying along behind, notebook and pen in hand. The army ambulance had pulled to a stop on the gravel whereupon the orderlies jumped out to go round to the back and begin to manoeuvre the patients out. Lady Carnarvon stepped forward. One of the young men looked especially ill, gaunt and filthy dirty, a grubby bandage over his lower leg. He was groaning from pain – the jolts in the slow trailer from Southampton has been unbearable.

She could already smell the festering wound but lent towards him and smiled, “Good Afternoon, I am so glad you have arrived, we will just get you upstairs and then we can have a good look at your leg”.

She turned back to the other three patients, taking time to welcome each man enquire of his name and injury. Mary made notes, asking for addresses and family names so she could write and reassure their relatives straightaway.

The gaunt young man was carried upstairs to Portico bedroom overlooking the Castle entrance. Two nurses helped him wash and clean himself thoroughly. Lady Carnarvon brought him clean pyjamas and a dressing-gown. Then Lady Carnarvon and Dr Johnnie sat down near him to assess him.

Almina explained she was going to help dress his wounds and look after him.

He had dysentery and the best thing to do was to drink plenty of water and tea. He looked very small and grey against the soft white pillows on the bed. He was not to move to begin with. His foot looked ghastly, swollen and dark in colour. She washed and dressed it each day and visited him at mealtimes to check he was comfortable.

Gradually, over the next few weeks, Lady Carnarvon gathered his story. During a mission above the beaches of Gallipoli, David Campbell was shot in the calf of his leg. Whilst one soldier helped him dress his calf, he was shot in the foot, and David Campbell helped dress his foot.

In terrible pain and unable to move from fear of snipers, he passed out. Coming too, he started to try and crawl back past other wounded men. His journey back, as he joined in with a stream of other bloodied men, ended with his collapse from loss of blood. He was picked up by a Ghurkha and hit again in the left leg whilst being carried down the hillside.

Written to remember their stories

Eventually they made in back to the First Aid Post where the Ghurkha deposited him and melted away into the crowd. The orderlies dressed his calf but not his foot . There were no stretchers left so hopping between two orderlies, crawling on all fours and exhausted David Campbell and helpers crawled into the Field Ambulance station. He was placed on an stretcher and left overnight. Turkish snipers ensured there were soon no stretcher bearers to carry a stretchers. Suffering from the burning sun, David Campbell eventually crawled across the beach himself. He reached the Field Hospital and was attended to straightaway as few others had made it.

He was one of a group of wounded men who made it to a launch, then trawler and then to a hospital  hip.  He had hardly eaten but now found he had dysentery. Operations on the ship could only be described as basic and splinters of lead were removed from his calf with no anaesthetic. His foot became gangrenous and he was marked for an amputation. The surgeon then became ill so David Campbell arrived back in England with two feet.

To begin with visiting friends hardly recognised him because his frame and face was so shrunken and hollow from the dysentery as well as the mental fatigue but, over the next 3 months, he regained his health.

He wrote that there could be no better solace to wander over the cool green grass and sit under the cedars. It was not just the restorative peace of nature but also the care and time given to him by Almina and all her nurses.

Almina was Head Matron – she had found her vocation in life: nursing. She took a very professional and organised approach, visiting other hospitals for research and asking surgeons for advice. Operations were conducted on a Monday. A stickler for hygiene and kind recovery conditions, very few patients died. In fact Almina saved David’s leg and slowly got the better of the dysentery from which he was suffering. After a week he was encouraged to go and sit outside, and then progressed from a wheelchair to crutches. Time, confidence and courage helped him overcome some of his mental trauma.

Almina was simply following the example of extraordinary women such as Florence Nightingale, or the Agnes and Fanny Keyser who founded what became King Edward VII hospital in London.

Today is the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday in 1820. Her legacy was profound not merely encouraging others to care as she did, but encouraging statistical analysis, hygiene, compassion and thoughtful hospital administration.

Today USA nurses still recite ‘The Nightingale Pledge’, there is a  Nightingale Initiative for Global Health’, there are statues in her honour, many wards are named for her, she has been on a bank note, museums and monuments pay tribute to her.

Thank you to all who nurse today.