Civil War
During the war there were few trained doctors and nurses to help the wounded soldiers. The Blackwell sisters called a meeting at the infirmary to figure how to best train nurses. They set u the Women Central Association of Relief to the sick and wounded of the army(Binns68). Elizabeth Blackwell believing that hygiene was extremely important in preventing diseases,wanted to set up a Sanitary Commission to help sanitation. Many opposed it saying that hygiene wasn't important at all, but Elizabeth stuck to her beliefs. On June 13th Lincoln was convinced and the sanitary commission was created (DISCovering Bio..). Its purpose was to provide nurses, cooks ,medicine ,hospitals, ambulances. It also checked camps and hospitals to advice the workers on how to make them more hygienic.The commission also provided clean food and clothes the soldiers of the Union army. Blackwell helped train new nurses in New York with her sister. The met the potential nurses then decided who was capable, the nurses went through a month of training and lectures by Blackwell (Binns69). The commission was a huge success with more than seven thousand groups in the Union by 1863. In addition to training nurses, Blackwell was still working at infirmary, turning down no one down. Their number of patients grew to seven thousand a year. (Binns70).
During the war there were few trained doctors and nurses to help the wounded soldiers. The Blackwell sisters called a meeting at the infirmary to figure how to best train nurses. They set u the Women Central Association of Relief to the sick and wounded of the army(Binns68). Elizabeth Blackwell believing that hygiene was extremely important in preventing diseases,wanted to set up a Sanitary Commission to help sanitation. Many opposed it saying that hygiene wasn't important at all, but Elizabeth stuck to her beliefs. On June 13th Lincoln was convinced and the sanitary commission was created (DISCovering Bio..). Its purpose was to provide nurses, cooks ,medicine ,hospitals, ambulances. It also checked camps and hospitals to advice the workers on how to make them more hygienic.The commission also provided clean food and clothes the soldiers of the Union army. Blackwell helped train new nurses in New York with her sister. The met the potential nurses then decided who was capable, the nurses went through a month of training and lectures by Blackwell (Binns69). The commission was a huge success with more than seven thousand groups in the Union by 1863. In addition to training nurses, Blackwell was still working at infirmary, turning down no one down. Their number of patients grew to seven thousand a year. (Binns70).
"To us, nourished from childhood on the idea of human freedom and justice, the contest became of absorbing interest... we threw ourselves energetically into the cause of freedom" |