Something New
First Foreign Training School for Nurses in Moscow
[Image: INSTITUTE FOR THE PROTECTION OF MOTHERHOOD AND INFANCY, MOSCOW. The buildings for the Training School are located on the grounds of this Institute]
A Nurses Training School in Moscow. WHY?
In each country where the American Friends Service Committee has worked, it has endeavored to make an intelligent contribution to the needs it has found.
In Russia, this has meant a program of material relief: now, however, with the improving economic conditions of the past two years and the increasing ability of the Russians to help themselves, the time has come for a more constructive plan, supplementing certain gaps in the technical and educational development of the country.
Our ten years' experience in medical relief work on the Steppes has taught us that nothing is so much needed in the Russian villages as WELL-TRAINED PUBLIC HEALTH NURSES. Thousands are needed: not one exists.
There are no nurses' training schools in Russia such as are found in the United States.
There is no equivalent to the English word "nurse" in the Russian language.
Due to the lack of educational facilities, many of the "Sisters" are illiterate. In many sections the taking of the temperature of patients must be done by a doctor.
Giving a patient a bed-bath is unknown.
The young women who assist in hospitals are required to find and prepare their own food and do all of their personal laundry.
The developing of a nurses' training school along American lines means --
Giving a demonstration of the best that the West has developed along nursing lines to a people who are eager to learn.
Developing an entirely new class of public servants.
Making the Russian doctors more effective by giving them trained assistants and thus releasing them for more important work.
That if the work is adopted by the Soviet Government, eventually, public health workers will be placed in every district in Russia.
That instead of having to educate a very large number of doctors, public health workers can be placed in the field in a comparatively few years.
Such an opportunity for permanent influence is a Great Responsibility
To many Russians, America seems a land of rich and thoughtless people who are willing that toilers all over the world die of neglect, so long as their greed is satisfied. Can we refuse this chance to prove our friendliness and the essential brotherhood of man which transcends nationality?
How the Plan is to Develop
The [cooperation] of the Soviet Government is assured.
Written permission has been given to found and develop the school.
Suitable buildings have been donated by the Government.
The Friends will undertake to supervise the school for five years.
The course of training will be three years, -- twenty students entering each year.
The five-year period allows two years for the graduates of the first and second classes to demonstrate the value of their training to the Medical Department of the Soviet Government.
Instruction in medical subjects will be given by Russian Doctors. [page 3]
Instruction and supervision of the practical work in nursing will be under the direction of Anna J. Haines.
The staff is to include four American or English nurses, one American Doctor (as a liaison officer between the nursing school and the Russian Doctors) and an Executive or Administrator.
Local districts sending girls for training will be expected to provide funds to cover cost of food.
The Medical Department of the Government will set aside a certain number of wards in various hospitals throughout the city for the practical training of the student nurses.
Costs
The school will start with 20 student nurses. 20 more will be added by the second year and 20 more the third year.
The cost for maintenance, equipment, etc., will not be uniform, except for the last three years. An average per year for the five-year period during which the school will be in the control of Friends, therefore, will be as follows:
| Salaries for Foreign Staff: | |
| 1 Head Nurse and Administrator .......... | $2,500.00 |
| 3 Nurses @ $2,000.00 each .......... | 6,000.00 |
| 1 Nurse .......... | 500.00 |
| 1 Director in charge of office, etc. .......... | 500.00 |
| Salaries for Russian doctors .......... | 2,000.00 |
| Salaries for Russian Interpreters and servants (21) .......... | 6,000.00 |
| Uniforms for student nurses and maids .......... | 2,200.00 |
| Textbooks and stationery .......... | 2,000.00 |
| Cost of entertainment of foreigners and incidentals .......... | 1,500.00 |
| Maintenance cost chargeable to Friends .......... | 6,800.00 |
| *Food, average of 80 people at 1 [ruble] a day .......... | 15,000.00 |
| $45,000.00 |
*It is expected that both maintenance and food will be less, as coal may be used instead of wood, and local committees will be asked to support the students from their districts.
Additional Costs
It is impossible to establish a school of this kind in a country like Russia without bearing a considerable cost of equipment.
Many things are not considered necessary by the Russian people that are most essential if a school on western lines is to be made a success. Considerable expense, therefore, must be incurred for equipment, materials, arrangement of rooms, etc., which to a Russian seem quite unnecessary. The proper equipment of the school, therefore, is a part of the contribution that the school has to make to the development of nursing work in Russia. The following items, therefore, represent expenditures that must be made in order to introduce the best nursing methods to the Russian people.
| Additional costs of conditioning buildings such as putting in suitable heating apparatus, plumbing, etc. .......... | 20,000.00 |
| For partitions and other equipment necessary to provide suitable dormitory accommodations .......... | 12,000.00 |
| Margin for contingencies .......... | 5,000.00 |
| Furnishings for dormitories, offices, dietetic kitchens, etc. .......... | 13,000.00 |
| $50,000.00 [page 4] |
[image: Floor plan of buildings set aside by the Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Infancy, in Moscow, for the Nurses' Training School. Plan represents arrangements after improvements are made.]
For additional information write to Anna J. Haines, Moorestown, New Jersey, or the office of the Service Committee.
Speaking engagements for Anna Haines can be arranged through the office.
Checks should be made payable to Charles F. Jenkins, Treasurer, and forwarded to the office.
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