Wednesday 21 April 2010

V.A.D. Helpers - A Note by the Matron

Autumn 1915

Nearly four months ago we took in our first lot of V.A.D. helpers. I must confess that, on my part, it was with very mixed feelings. I hoped they would 'fit in' all right, but I 'hae'd ma doots.'
They arrived one very hot afternoon in June; they poured in - eighty of them; it felt like an invasion. We had had a very busy time getting ready the houses for them, and I owe more than I can say to Captain Dodson, and also to Sister Hovenden's Sisters, for their great help. I think perhaps the V.A.D.'s felt as I did, and wondered too, how they would 'fit in.' We did our best to welcome them, and I hope conveyed to them that we really did welcome them, and did not look on them as outsiders. The C.O., I thought, made a very happy remark in his little address to them when he said this was 'our hospital,' and he hoped they would now look on it as 'our hospital' too.

With very few exceptions, the V.A.D.'s have 'settled in' very well - and I trust happily. They have done their work well, and have become 'one of us.' The Sisters and Nurses, I know, appreciate their work and are very glad to have their help. There are times when we are all tired and sometimes we speak sharply - perhaps more sharply that we should otherwise do. I should like the V.A.D.'s to remember that they are quite fresh and that the routine of a hospital is practically a novelty to them; and because someone speaks sharply it isn't always meant to be unkind. If, at the end of the war, any of the V.A.D.'s decide to train as nurses, they will then realise that it is very hard indeed, at the close of a trying day, to be exactly as one would be in private life, where cares and worries are very few and far between. I hope that the V.A.D.'s will go on as they have begun, and there is no reason why it should not be Our Hospital (of which we are all proud) at the end of the war.

EDITH HOLDEN, Matron

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