xt769p2w4t99 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt769p2w4t99/data/mets.xml The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. 1971 bulletins  English The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletins Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 2, Autumn 1971 text Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 47, No. 2, Autumn 1971 1971 2014 true xt769p2w4t99 section xt769p2w4t99 jfmntizr SEUYSUIQ ézrhiuz
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"77~ee¢ Louis Stevenson
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 I
i
§ _ QUARTERLY BULLETIN 3
* A BABE WAS BORN AND THE
WORLD FLOVVERED
1 by
  NANCY RICHEY RANSON
4
On that wonderful night of the Nativity when animals
`i knelt in their stalls and conversed with each other in Latin (ac-
l cording to the old legend), trees burst into bloom and flowers,
{ some of them appearing on earth for the first time, lifted their
5 heads above the wintry ground in full bloom.
Fruit trees not only bloomed that night but bore fruit as
well.
Wild animals left their dens and lairs for a trek to Bethle-
hem to glimpse the Babe in the manger.
I Birds too flew in a seemingly endless procession by air,
if leaving behind warm nests and roosts high in trees, even in
faraway countries.
The robin was there, ready to fan the dying coals to flame
to keep the Christ Child warm in the chilly night hours, even
though the fire scorched its breast to an eternal red.
Only the owl was absent. Too drowsy to heed the call from
A the swiftly flying birds, he woke to find himself alone in silent
surroundings.
_. Alarmed at such loneliness, he queried, "Who called? Who?
Who ?"
No other bird remained to answer, and he still asks his
plaintive question: "Who? Who'? Who ?"
Faded wild flowers and withered herbs among the dried hay
that Joseph brought in from the fields and roadsides for Mary’s
bed and for the manger on the night that Christ was born burst
into fresh bloom and sent forth a delectable aroma which they
  still retain, after hundreds of years.
} Those that bloomed for the Christ Child are known as the
4 Manger Herbs. Also in His bed were the sainfoin and the baby’s
breath.
i Best known in Mary’s bed were thyme, woodruff and ground-
sel.
1   When the thyme blossomed in the hay on which Mary lay,
.n

 l
4 Fnomwimn Nunsmo smwicm .
its bloom, which had hitherto been white, turned a clear laven- A
der, the color of her robe. And its fragrance has remained,
whether it is used in cookery or as a medicinal herb, "to comfort V
the heart."
Groundsel (Senecio) is a common weed in countries of the _,
Old World. It is a composite and has multitudinous tiny yellow I
flowers in its round heads. Mixed with distilled water, syrup,  
wine, or even vinegar, the dried flowers and leaves of groundsel i
were once given as medicines and used in magic. One whiff of ·
the roots of this fragrant plant sufficed to cure stubborn head- i
aches. Dried leaves mixed with medicine with a strong odor _
made the latter quite palatable. `f
Woodruff (Asperula), known as sweet Woodruff ever since ‘
that Hrst Christmas Eve when it took on fragrance, has a dainty
little white star-shaped blossom with a whorl of light green
leaves growing beneath; it loves shady places, including rock
gardens. Its powdered leaves were once mixed with "fancy ,
powdered snuffs" because of their enduring fragrance. The _
French called it musk of the woods. Old herbalists spelled it »
Woodde Rowffe. It grows wild in the woods so is not as well
known as cultivated herbs, though famous in legend as being
one of the plants in Mary’s bed.
Our Lady’s bedstraw (Galium), legend tells us, made up
most of the Christ Child’s bed in the manger. Its common name, `
false baby’s breath, was given because of the daintiness and _
airiness of the delicate white iiowers, which turned to pale s
yellow on the night that Christ was born and blossomed to °
make a golden crown for His head. ,
It was the sainfoin that left a circle of deep lavender flowers `
where His head had lain when the Wise Men lifted Him to give I
Him homage. This plant, an important forage crop in the Old
World, is a member of the pea family.
After the guiding star had led the Wise Men to Bethlehem, .
it suddenly burst into millions of small pieces and fell to earth. , i.
The fragments grew into small clusters of white lilies which E:
we know today as star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum unbella- Az
tum). 2
But the Wise Men stumbled about the little narrow streets
of Bethlehem, unable to {ind the place where the newborn King ·

 l
A QUARTERLY Runrmin 5
lay. Suddenly Melchior dismounted from his dromedary to ex-
amine a small star—like flower beside a stable door. It was a
V white chrysanthemum.
"This is the place/’ he said, "for here is the symbol of the
fl star." The door swung open, revealing the Holy Family within.
  Shepherds and townsfolk came, bearing gifts for the young
{ Child. But one small girl, daughter of a shepherd, wept outside
, the stable. An angel appeared and asked her why she was sad.
I "Because I have no gift to offer," she said. He told her to look
down to the ground at her feet and she would iind one.
  She saw a cluster of little white flowers and rushed with
Q them to the manger. The Christ Child reached out and touched
them. Immediately they became suffused with delicate shades
of pink and green. The flower is known now as Christmas rose.
To botanists it is black hellebore.
C A young shepherd boy, watching his sister choose her gift,
i searched the path and found beside it a brilliant yellow flower.
i Rushing with it to the stable, he presented it to Mary, who told
him it was more precious to her than gold, and wore it in her
bosom. It is the gay and lovely marigold of our gardens
(Tagetes).
Another beautiful offering was a sprig of holly with gleam-
. ing white berries. In His delight at its beauty, the Christ Child
took it in His hand and was wounded by the sharp thorns. Blood
A from His linger stained the white berries red, far more lovely
. than they were before. This plant was dedicated to Jesus in
Bethelehem, and legend relates that it grew in His footsteps
i as He walked the earth and that it was used as the crown of
. thorns at His Cruciiixion.
The berries took on an even deeper shade of scarlet when
a little bird plucked a thorn from the crown to relieve the Sav-
ior’s suffering, staining its own breast with the blood.
i Another legend is that the robin fanned the dying fire in
E ( the stable into flame to warm the Christ Child, and scorched its
·i breast red.
2 Many flowers were dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Bethle-
hem, including notably the rose, lily, iris and the carnation,
. which bloomed for the first time on that long—ago Christmas
Eve.

 U
6 FRONTIER NURSING smnvrcn {
A little plant that had been for a long time a cure for  
almost every known disease was the strong-smelling camomile, -
and legend tells us that the Wise Men brought it with their gold,  J
frankincense and myrrh as a precious gift to the newborn King. A
Some say that the fir was originally a magnificent tree with e {
enormous leaves and rich, delectable fruit, and that it was the  
fir’s fruit that Eve ate. As a punishment to the tree, its leaves 1
shrank to needles and its fruit to cones. However, on that first rl
Christmas Eve it became as it was originally: a gorgeous tree,
the Chi1d’s first Christmas tree.
Another story lists the pine as the first lighted Christmas
tree. It grew with an olive and a palm outside the stable door.
The olive offered its fruit as a gift, the palm its dates, but the
pine was desolate because it had no fruit to give. Sympathizing
with it, the stars fell from the skies to its branches to add
their shining lights, and it became the first lighted Christmas T
tree in the world.
The mistletoe, symbolizing peace, love and good will to all
men—to Druids, Romans, and to people of many nationalities-
was dedicated to Jesus at His birth.
Trees too demonstrated peace, love and good will to the _
Holy Family during their fiight into Egypt.
When Herod’s soldiers were about to overtake them, it was
the trees that offered shelter and protection.
The pine let its long limbs down to touch the ground and
formed a quick green curtain that hid all three travelers, Joseph,
Mary and Jesus, until the searching soldiers left. For its aid,
Jesus lifted his hand to bless the pine tree. Since then, one can
now and then find a pine cone that, if split lengthwise, shows
the imprint of a baby’s hand inside.
The ancient fig tree opened its huge trunk, inviting the
family into a huge room. Then it closed the opening, and the ‘
soldiers went on their way, not suspecting their presence. *1
The juniper merely offered a large branch as a cradle for K
the child, holding him securely as Joseph and Mary wandered V:
off apparently aimlessly until the danger had passed. To this a
day, the juniper lifts the ends of its branches as if to form a of
resting place for a child in danger.
Mary hung freshly laundered clothing on a sturdy bush to ·

 E?
  QUARTERLY Runtmin 7
is dry. It was a rosemary, and it immediately took on a rich
 S fragrance which it holds to this day.
g She hung her own garments on a lavender bush, which
  since then has not only been softly gray like her dress but has
, taken on the lavender shade of her coat, and has held such a
    wonderful aroma that modern woman likes a whiff of the foliage
y among her own clothes.
  The latest plant added to the collection of the many that
C bless our Christmas came across the border from Mexico.
It is the brilliantly colored Poinsettia, called iior de Noche
Buena (flower of the Holy Night) in Mexico.
Its legend is much the same as that of the Christmas rose.
One small girl in a great throng of worshipers proceeding to
services in a great cathedral wept bitterly because she had no
_ gift to lay at the altar for Jesus.
When an angel appeared and told her to take what she
U found at her feet, but to take it with love in her heart, she joy-
fully broke off some tall, coarse weeds and carried them into
the church. Straight up the aisle she went, with worshipers
staring incredulously at her ragged clothes, her bare feet and
the ugly weeds she bore.
When she laid the plants down at the altar, their tips flamed
into color, the bracts around the tiny yellow flowers becoming
the gorgeous poinsettia that is so popular in our Christmas
decorations.
We know that lovely plant as poinsettia because Dr. Joel
Poinsett, our ambassador to Mexico, introduced it into this
country.
Many other plants have a prominent part in our Christmas
. celebration, including especially the evergreens. From time
immemorial, they have been the symbols and the messengers of
_ peace and love at the Christmas Season—our beneficent allies
` without which we could not exist in this pollution-ridden world.
:1 Reprinted from The Dallas M owning News,
K : December 20, 1970
(

 i
8 FRoN*r1ER NURSING SERVICE _ T
MARY BRECKINRIDGE DAY — 1971  A
The Tenth Annual Mary Breckinridge Day Festival was  A
held at the Fish and Game Club in Leslie County on Saturday,  ·
October 2. The Chairman of the Festival, Mr. Rufus Fugate, :
and the members of his committee once again planned and exe- V
cuted a memorable day for all of us. The theme of the parade i
was The Environment and the floats were attractive and imag- '<
inative. The W. B. Muncy School at Wooton won the grand
championship for the second year in a row. A photograph of
their float appears below, but a black and white picture does »
not really do it justice. One side of the "mountain" in the center
of the float showed well-kept homes, woods, gardens and lawns.
The other side of the mountain illustrated what happens when
strip-mining destroys the forest and the land below becomes a
desert of eroded soil, earth slides and abandoned houses. With
what we trust is pardonable pride, we report that the Wendover
float won first prize in the "community" group and we know, l
from experience, that much hard work by a great many people
goes into the construction of the lloats.
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  l
i QUARTERLY BULLETIN 9
Mrs. Edward Farmer had again assembled a group of
craftsmen to display their quilts, woodwork, weaving, candle-
4 making, sunbonnets, corn-shuck dolls and flowers, stools and
chairs. Mr. W. Roy Sizemore was Master of Ceremonies for the
: program, a Mary Breckinridge Festival Queen was crowned, and
Dr. Martin Jolly, President of the Hazard Community College,
l was the guest speaker.
*4
             
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I’lz0lo by G¢1In·ie»IIc Beasley
_ Mrs. Preshie Bledsoe ot Coon Creek enjoys a tew minutes rest on the Mary Breckinridge
y Festival Queenls throne. With her are her daughter, Ethel, and her district nurse, Karen
Knapp. Ethel is known to our statt and many ot our guests as the one who prepares our
‘  good meals at Wendover.
. e
I It was good to see many old friends back in the county for
’ the day. Nan Sersig took a week end off from college to help
with the Hyden District float. Margaret Martini came over from

 10 1¤RoN·r1ER Nuasmo smavicn
Berea and Alice Prince drove all the way from New York where 1
she is a freshman medical student at Columbia. Kristin Hill, p
Jane Williams and Ginny LaRoche spent the week end at Flat  ,
Creek and Margaret McCracken came over from Virginia to
spend a couple of nights with Lucille Knechtly. Mrs. Clifton .
Rodes Breckinridge brought Dr. K. H. Sehra, an Indian physi— N
cian, up from Lexington, and Miss Elsie Warner, a member of _
our National Nursing Council, came from Philadelphia. i
The Mary Breckinridge Festival Committee has announced
that the Festival next year will be held on Saturday, Septem-
ber 30.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE . . .
The more things change, the more they remain the same, L
says a philosopher. If that is true, the next male fashion in hair
may be wigs for men. Wigs are already big for women.
According to Alice Earle in "Home Life in Colonial Days," _
the popularity of wigs for men started early in the 17th century
and lasted for at least a century. It followed an age when men
wore long hair. 0
The Cavaliers (the author reports) had long and perfumed T
love locks. The hair of the Puritans also waved over the collar
and sometimes over the shoulder. The Quakers were another
long haired group.
The government and some ministers were denouncing wigs
in 1675, but the criticism seemed only to make them more popu-
lar. There were many variations in style and in materials. The A
latter included 'human hair, horsehair, goats-hair, calves’ and
cow’s tails, thread, silk and mohair. You could have a "grave
full bottom," a "giddy feather-top," a "long-tail," or a "drop- ‘
wig."
All were heavy and hot . . . and the price was the equivalent g
of about $100 today. If you were a gentleman, you needed eight A
or ten to cover every occasion. It's coming, there’s no doubt about 'l
it, and we’re not yet ready. i S
—The Colonial Crier, Nov.-Dec., 1970  
Colonial Hospital Supply Company `
Chicago, Illinois

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 11
A PIECE OF GOOD NEWS
 i Mary Breckinridge Hospital
i On Friday, November 19, 1971, we received, by telephone,
the news that Part IV of our application to build the new hos-
ii pital had received the approval of the State Agency and the
Atlanta Regional Office of the U. S. Public Health Service. One
week later this news was confirmed in writing. It is the final
step we have all been eagerly awaiting during the past several
I months. It means the contract for construction can be signed
1 and arrangements are being made for this to be done as we go
2 to press. We hope excavations for the new building will be well
T under way before Christmas.
Next to building the first hospital in Hyden in 1928, this is
probably one of the most significant steps to be undertaken by
the FNS. Forty—three years ago Mary Breckinridge undertook
to meet a need by building a small cottage hospital. As the years
1 went by and the FNS started its education program for nurse-
midwives, it became evident that there was a real need for a
I modern health center which would serve as a hospital for the
community as well as an education center for nurses interested
in our type of work. There is increasing need throughout the
country and indeed throughout the world for more physicians
and nurses to do the kind of work we have been doing since 1925.
So, once again we take a step to help fill the need, and thank our
many friends who continue to encourage and support us on
our way.
, We invite each of our readers to tell our story to a friend
`: who may not know of our work. Each new friend will be a
  magnificent Christmas present from you to us. We will be happy
  to mail our Quarterly Bulletin to anyone who may request it for
it a friend. We join Charles Dickens’ Tiny Tim in saying, "God
bless us everyone !"

 12 Fnowrxma Nunsmc smnvxcm A
THE ROAD UP IS HARDLY EVER STRAIGHT
The graduate who doesn’t get quite the job he wants, or the
young man who has already worked a couple of years and feels y
he is in a maze, ought to be compelled to see a Somerset Maugham
story which is not new but appears on television from time to J
time. · '
It deals with a church verger (assistant sexton, if you will).
The bishop and his deacons discover with some consternation
that the verger, though he has been a good man on the job for
several years, cannot read or write. He is fired.
He returns depressed to his lodging house and to the sym-
pathy of his landlady. Both of them are single. One thing leads
to another, possibly because the landlady has a few hundred
pounds saved up. Anyway, they get married and at once make a
fine team. They pool their savings and buy a small tobacco and _
candy store. They work hard and do well, and later they buy _
another and another.
Years pass. The ex-verger and his former landlady love each
other and hard work. The few shops multiply into a chain; their ·
profits rise to thousands, then hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The denouement comes when the ex-verger’s banker sets up
a trust for the couple. The banker asks him to read and sign the
document. The verger confesses that he can neither read nor
write.
The banker is saddened. "What a pity," he says. "Just think
what you could have become if you had learned to read and
write."
"Yes," answered the millionaire. "I would have been a verger
in a church at five pounds a month." A
Education is the greatest . . . but it isn’t all! J
—The Colonial Crier, July-Aug., 1970  

 A QUARTERLY BULLETIN 13
I A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF THE
PROFESSIONAL NURSE WORKING WITH THE
FRONT IER NURSING SERVICE
` Presented to the Faculty of the College of Nursing of
Northeastern University in Fuliillment of Senior Nursing Course 85.201
I by
PAULINE ELIZABETH LEE
May 25, 1971
{_Edit01·’s Note: Over the years the Frontier Nursing Service has
offered field experience to senior nursing students. Pauline Lee
came to us from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachu-
setts, for two months in the spring of 1971. We are pleased to
` print her report of her experiences.] ‘
II. Introduction-
A. Frontier Nursing Service
Wendover, Leslie County, Kentucky 41775
. B. Objectives
. 1. To gain a broader nursing perspective.
2. To work with a rural medical team in Family Health
Planning.
, 3. To increase my practical experience in the Maternal-
Child Health field.
4. To use technical skills and problem-solving techniques
which I have acquired.
5. To develop further leadership ability and acceptance of
responsibility.
6. To come to an understanding of general and specific
Frontier Nursing goals.
7. To evaluate this learning experience in relation to nurs-
ing theories, ideas and techniques.
III. A. Identify the role of the professional nurse in the selected
placement experience.
{ "Let someone go and live among the people and become their
,,1 friend."1 These words very simply express the foundation of the
` role which the nurse in the mountains. must assume. Initially, she
is an outsider and until she has gained the confidence of the peo-
`_ JE. J. Merry and I. D. Irven, District Nursing (London: Baillier Tindall and
' Cox, 1955), p. VII.

 14 Fnomumn Nunsms smnvicm
ple she will not be accepted. Once accepted, however, her role as
the nurse evolves and becomes more clearly defined. The moun-
tain people play a vital part in the development of the nurse’s L
role. Their needs, both individually and as a family, help to 4
expand and broaden the role and also help to establish priorities .
for the rendering of health care.
The District Nurse, who may also be a nurse-midwife, resides p
at one of the nursing outposts within the 700 square mile area Al
in which the Frontier Nursing Service renders care. She may be
alone or with another nurse. Usually, if she has a one-nurse
center, she also has a volunteer courier, who offers company, will-
ingness to help and the ability to maintain the center in the
absence of the nurse. If the nurse is not a midwife, then mid-
wifery care is done by a visiting nurse-midwife from Hyden who
visits the center usually on a weekly basis for clinics. Care is
based on the family unit and while primary consideration is given
to illness and treatment, concern is also given to the family’s
social situation——is there running water, enough food, what kinds
of food. All of these factors must be weighed by the nurse. She
assesses and evaluates in reference to each individual family. Her
past experiences, the doctors in Hyden, the nursing field super-
visor and her clinic references and resources are readily available
for consultation; but, she must be personally responsible for ini-
tiating the interactive consultation. She is independently respon-
sible for utilizing the problem-solving technique in making her i
nursing decisions. She may be alone on district and many times
decisions must be made immediately, and so, she must make a
judgment in health care. Her preparedness for this rests with
her understanding of the people with whom she is working. It is
through listening, observing and asking that one learns a great
deal from the people of the mountains. There is much wisdom to
be heard in the hills. For many years common sense has saved
their lives, borne their children, and cured their ailments. It is by
understanding their ways and building onto their methods that
the nurse tries to establish good health care in the homes. I
The role of the nurse-midwife is somewhat different. Her ,.
main area of concern is with the family who is preparing to {
receive a "new member". Her chief concern is the mother who is
with child, but she too, must be equally concerned with the exist- i
ing family situation. The nurse-midwives follow the mothers pre-

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN is
natally, throughout labor and delivery and the postpartum pe-
riod. It is through communication from the districts that the hos-
~ pital learns about many new prenatal registrations, and it is
E from the hospital that the District Nurse learns of the new
, family member in her district. Such lines of communication
enhance the delivery of complete health care. In reference to
communication, I must mention that by far the best source of
il information is the people themselves. Theirs is the language of
the heart which expresses a deep concern for the welfare of their
fellow man.
Today, in the hills, most of the babies are delivered by the
nurse-midwives in the hospital at Hyden. Sometimes there are
cases where families are unable to get to the hospital, and so,
the nurse-midwife, with her saddle-bag delivery bags, goes out
into the "hollers" and up the creeks. All the nurse-midwives work
under the direction of the Medical Director of the Frontier Nurs-
ing Service. The nurse-midwife also evaluates and assesses. Her
evaluation includes history-taking, medical, obstetrical, social and
dietary. Physical screening is done by the nurse-midwife and
any minor treatments which are necessary are cared for by her
under a set of orders referred to as the Midwifery Routine. This
routine and the standing orders followed by the district nurses
were developed by physicians of the Medical Advisory Committee
of FNS. In both roles the nurse has the responsibility to make
I decisions based on assessment and evaluation. Her added respon-
sibility is to know when she needs assistance, and to seek it.
In summary, the role of the District Nurse and that of the
nurse-midwife are interrelated. It is because of the presence of
these two roles that such an extensive family nursing program
can be maintained and be effective. The Frontier Nursing Service
has recognized the need for a person formally trained in the care
of the family unit. The Family Nurse Program is an integral part
of the Midwifery Curriculum at the Frontier Nursing Service’s
I Graduate School of Midwifery. "It offers nurses a broader lati-
tude for developing their skills and knowledge; it demands a high
g· degree of commitment and responsibility; and it provides new
` opportunities for working in a meaningful alliance with the physi-
p cian in joint endeavors to meet the health needs of the people."“
2Gertrude Isaacs, D.N.Sc., Education Director, Frontier Nursing Service.

 16 FRONTIER NURSING smzvicm
Much of what has now been formalized in this program has
been a part of the District Nurses’ role for over 40 years; how-
ever, the nurses now have the opportunity to integrate the .
family nurse concept into their role with the aid of classes and
supervised field