AIRING LINEN
(Photo, Reginald Haines)
HOSING THE SQUARE
(Photo, Reginald Haines)
It may have been that the new Women’s Corps and Services offered a more attractive life to women, or that hospital work began to pall upon them after several years of war; but it became more difficult to find recruits, and in 1918 a glad welcome was extended to a number of American women who came over to London to serve as orderlies at the Military Hospital, Endell Street. This little group of women was known as the ‘Hazard unit’; for the work of organising it and sending it to England was due to the energy, resource and friendship of Mrs. Hazard of Syracuse. The American women, though untrained in hospital work and unaccustomed to English life, took up the task before them with great enthusiasm, and proved very useful members of the staff. The hospital was much indebted to Miss Nancy Cook and Miss Marion Dickerman, who gave a year of most valuable service, and whose happy personalities endeared them to all those with whom they came in contact.
The problem of resting the orderly staff was always important, and as the years passed, it became more pressing. The holidays allowed under the terms of appointment were very insufficient, and it was essential to give each one a full month’s leave in the summer, if they were to keep well and fit for the work. This could only be done if other girls could be found to take their places temporarily; for the summer was always the busiest time of the year. An appeal for temporary workers was sent to a number of the women’s colleges and girls’ schools, and in 1917 and 1918 a very cordial response was met with.