THE RED CROSS

Editor's note: From its first issue in 1900 through to the present day, AJN has unparalleled archives detailing nurses' work and lives over more than a century. These articles not only chronicle nursing's growth as a profession within the context of the events of the day, but they also reveal prevailing societal attitudes about women, health care, and human rights. Today's nursing school curricula rarely include nursing's history, but it's a history worth knowing. To this end, From the AJN Archives offers articles selected to fit today's topics and times. This month's article, from the October 1915 issue, describes the sinking of the Eastland excursion steamer near Michigan City, Indiana, which capsized with 2,500 people aboard as it was leaving the dock. Author Minnie H. Ahrens, director of the Department of Nursing of the Central Division of the Red Cross, provides a vivid account of rescue efforts. More than 100 nurses arrived to help, and they worked for hours in the pouring rain, even applying hot, wet blankets in an effort to warm survivors. Ahrens had high praise for the nurse volunteers, noting that The only instruction which they failed to follow was that they should go home when they were exhausted and drenched to the skin. A century later, nurses continue to respond wholeheartedly in disasters, working tirelessly in challenging and often risky situations.