National Nurses United

As they are brought back to the United States, however, the nurs- es are retraumatized by their government and culture. Though they are celebrated and trotted out for photo ops, embellished news sto- ries, and military recruitment events, nobody wants to hear the real events of horror, atrocity, and deprivation they experienced. (Yet people made up fake stories about them, such as how the Japanese had raped them and cut off their arms and legs.) People didn't understand how to treat post-traumatic stress disorder back then, and some psychiatrists at the time actually thought nurses, because of their education and experiences with life and death, were immune to it. Everything was focused on treating the men, helping the men readjust to life. Nobody thought about the women. And then there was the matter of official recognition. Though by all accounts Major Davison should have been highly decorated and was recommended by a number of her superiors (including Gen. MacArthur himself!) to receive a Distinguished Service Medal, the Army's third-highest honor, she was denied the distinction based on another general's input that "the position of Chief Nurse, although very important, is not one of great responsibility within the meaning of the qualification of the Distinguished Service Medal." The Awards and Decorations Board gave her a lesser commendation, and concluded that even though Major Davison's service was no doubt exceptional and called for independent deci- sions and actions…a large share [of responsibility] must have been carried by doctors and commanders." Good ol' sexism against female nurses at work. Many of the nurses do manage to reintegrate into life. Some con- tinue with their military careers. Others marry and start families. After raising their kids, some try to return to civilian nursing, but nursing had changed so much that some of them wanted no part. Bedside nurses would appreciate this reaction from Helen "Cassie" Nestor when she tried to return to nursing in the 1980s: "I walked into the intensive care unit and I was shocked. Machines ran every- thing, even the intravenous fluid lines. The nurses seemed like paper pushers. Well, this was not for me. No! I would be a fish out of water. I wanted contact with patients." Many of the nurses ultimately develop and die from illnesses that no doubt stem from their period of severe malnutrition at STIC. The "Last Woman Standing," Milly Dalton, died in March 2013 at age 98. To write this book, Norman (herself an RN) conducted extensive research and raced to interview living members of this "band of angels," many of whom were dead or dying. It's a masterfully, vividly told story, and she paints the nurses as a cast of characters that you identify with and root for. We are lucky that Norman was able to doc- ument the story of this extraordinary group of nurses before it was lost forever. And reading it will no doubt make you proud to be a nurse and better appreciate the sacrifices of our RN colleagues who have served and continue to serve in the armed forces. —Lucia Hwang J U LY | A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 27 We are helping because we are one human family, and nurses are patient advocates no matter where those patients live. But we are also motivated because it affects us here too. Ebola scares have already occurred in two U.S. cities, New York and Sacramento, with fears of the presence of a patient who it was believed may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. In both cases, the tests proved negative, but the curtain has been pulled back on the lack of emergency preparedness in U.S. hospitals. At the Kaiser South Sacramento hospital, for example, the patient who prompted the alarm reportedly sat in the emer- gency room for at least a half hour without being screened or isolated. Kaiser nurses say lack of patient screening is just one small example of a widespread failure to have in place disaster plans or training of RNs or other staff on how to handle emergen- cies—not just for Ebola but for other disease outbreaks, such as SARS, or natural disasters like earthquakes. Past wake-up calls apparently have had little effect. In 2009, a nurse at another Sacramento hospital died after expo- sure to the H1N1 virus despite widespread alarm over the spread of that virus, including the warning that nurses were ready to strike in protest over inadequate planning and pre- paredness, including access to proper protective equipment. "This potential exposure of patients and healthcare workers demonstrates the critical need for planning, pre- paredness, and protection at the highest level in hospitals throughout the nation," says Bonnie Castillo, RN, director of our RNRN program. It's no accident that we are experiencing a surge in disas- ters, from disease outbreaks to extreme storms. Ebola has sev- eral connections to climate change. Drought conditions have accelerated deforestation and reduced animal habitats that have brought humans into closer contact with infected fruit bats and monkeys, and crop loss that results in more reliance on eating infected meat. In 2008, Scientific American listed 12 major diseases likely to see upticks due to the climate crisis, including cholera, bird flu, lyme disease, yellow fever, malaria-related ailments, sleep- ing sickness, poisonous algal blooms, tuberculosis, plague, and Ebola. Disasters are made in government and corporate offices as well, with decisions to slash public services and funding for public health programs that are calamities in waiting when disease or natural disasters strike. Emergency preparedness includes not cutting vital services at the behest of bankers and deficit-obsessed politicians that put millions at risk, or economic programs that leave much of the world population in poverty with few resources when dis- aster strikes. The resources are there, but not a priority in a profit-driven system. It's the skewed priorities and political will that is missing. RoseAnn DeMoro is executive director of National Nurses United. (Continued from page 13) IN IT TOGETHER

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