News Scrapbook 1985

San Diego, CA [San Diego Co.I San Diego Union [Cir. D. 217,32-41 [Cir. S. 339,7881 JU 10

ANightingal lesson in politics of nursing By oel Osment Staff Writer

• This weekend Palmer set off for the Middle East to complete her re- tracing of Nightingale's travels. She will combine a trip to Jerusalem (for a nursing research conference) with a trip up the Nile, like one Nightin- gale took as a young woman. Next she will revisit Uskudar in Turkey where Nightingale became known worldwide as "the lady with the lamp" during the Crimean War. Palmer aid he was always a his- tory buff, so when Boston University had a chance to buy the 100 letters in 1972, she was asked to evaluate them. They were from various stages in Nightingale's life - some dating to 1854, when she was in Turkey, and others written later from the seclu- sion of her home in London, where 11he directed many projects to im- e hea h These ln'tfl-- t Iv a small fraction of the correspondence Nightingale - were intriguing enough to send Palmer straight to the British ~useum on a vacation m 1974 to begm filling in the many fac- ets of Nightingale's hfe. The bare facts are these: Florence Nightingale grew up in a wealthy, aristocratic family. Her dad saw to it that she and her i;ister, Parthenopy, not only learned the humanities. lan- guages and mathemal!cs, but also traveled throughout Europe. (The sisters' names reflect their background, Palmer said. Florence was born in Florence, Italy, and her sister was born in Naples, which had Parthenopy as its goddess.) Extraordinarily bright and aw are, Florence had studied and visited all types of institutions, such as hospi- tals and poor houses by the time she was m her teens, and was developing a passion to improve the quality of life, Palmer said. "She was concerned with it m early childhood, when she was the

Irene Palmer sat in a conference room at the Uni'<,!:rsity of San Diego School of Nursing, where she 1s dean, andspoke of ffie current controversy over reducing the number of nurses in the city's schools. "The situation will turn around - It will be taken care of," she said quietly and confidently, when "in- formed pressure is brought to bear" on the situation. Palmer believes that most things cari be accomplished primarily with the use of "informed pressure" - with emphasis on the "informed." That was a tactic of Florence Nightingale's whom she came to ad- mire during her years of studying the legen a nurse w o . volutionized health car~ In glan ,h - I 1800s. The story of Nightingale has so fascinated Palmer that during the past 10 years she has made a pil- grimage to most of the places where Nightingale studied and worked. "We can learn from her political savvy - and her singleness of pur- pose," Palmer said. Palmer, who received her bache- lor of science degree in nursing edu- cation ID 1945 and her doctorate in research and rehabilitation nursmg in 1963, was well established as a nurse and educator before he began learning about Nightingale. That was in 1972, when she read 100 of Nightin- gale's letters acquired by the Boston University School of Nursing, where Plamer was dean before commg to San Diego. Smee then she has made an avoca- tion of researching Nightingale and collecting writings by and about her and her times. She has published nu- merous papers on the English nurse and harbo~ hopes of getting a pub- lisher interested in a definitive Nightingale book.

The San Diego Union Roni Galgano

and her sin-

Irene Palmer, dean of the USO School of Nightingale) political savvy - Nursln : 'We c n learn from her (Florence gleness of purpose.'

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traimng, having programs consist of on-the-job training only, Palmer abandoned her usual policy of dis- creet, behind-the-scenes use of pres- sure, and campaigned vigorously on telev1 ion and in any other venue possible. "It's important to pick one's bat- tles," she said She and ber colleagues won that battle. And now she expects they w I~ win the school nurse battle. But she will do her bit from behind the scenes, she said. to understand how having more school nurses can save money in the long run," she said "There are so many problems m schools - drugs, venereal diseases teen-age pregnancies - that need nurses to help deal with them. • urses can help cut down on the ab• e eeism these problems brirg about. And the more youngsters are in school, the more money the schools get." It's all a matter of ''informed pres- sure.' / ''They need

and Kaiserwurth, near Dusseldorf, Germany, where she studied nursmg at an tnstitule for deaconesses run by the Lutheran Church. In England, Palmer visited the Nightmgale family homes - one now a home for retired "gentlewom- en" and the other a boys' school - and one of the hospitals built under her supervision in later years. As Palmer learned. "nursing" per se was only a small part of Nightin- gale's life. After returning to Eng- land from the Crimea in 1856, this extraordinary woman, still in her 30s, literally retired to her home, scarcely to be seen in public again. And that marked the beginning of an incredibly productive life that was to last until she was in her 80s - all conducted from her home by let- ters. 'She wou d ee on! a 1e people a day, an tliat wa by ap- pointment. And at included her family," Palmer said. As Palmer sees 1t, it was not ec- centricity, but efficiency that led ightingale to ope "She realized that the s ·al rtic- ture of Victorian England and her place in 1t would prevent her from getting anything accomplished if she led the life of a typica woman in her social class," Palmer said. !'.ightingale supervised the effi- cient design of hospitals and sanitary systems and directed social welfare programs - one was a program to teach women in the home about health and nutrition. If there is one priority that Night- ingale exemplifies and that Palmer said she has tried to bring to her ca- reer m nursing education, it is quali- ty education and training. "Using people with inferior tram- mg is never cost-effective in the long run.'' Palmer l}id Thus. when proposed California legislation would have abohshed state funds for nurse's academic

In 1854."

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San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

Palmer described what Nightin- ale faced The filth was indescribable - there were almost no sanitary facili- ties. There were no arrangements for food. Whatever could be scrounged up was thrown in a big pot in a corri- dor to cook and then an orderly wo Id take a piece of gristly, greasy me t out and almost literally throw 1t on the patient's bed." How did a woman like Nightm- gale, who had led a fairly sheltered life, land all this? ''You must remember, she was an an tocrat," Palmer said. "So she had e brought up to conduct herself properly in any ·1tuahon.' Nightmgale improved conditions m the hospital because she had the nght contacts in England and be- cau e he had the organizational and admuu trahve bilities to know ex- actly what needed to be done, Palm- er said. "She had power, but not the au- thority to make changes. But she knew what to do. and so wrote copi- ous letters to Lord Herbert, who saw that she got what she needed. (Her- bert was Sidney Herbert, then secre- tary of state, and a personal friend.) He had the authority." It was, in short, informed pressure of the highest order. "She dealt very carefully with the military, to get some cooperation," Palmer said. "And she also wrote to Lord Herbert's wife. She was always very careful to gam the respect of the wives of the men she needed to deal with. And the men who helped her respected her for her intellect." Over the years - mcluding a vear s leave of absence rn 1976 - Palmer visited all the places that hail been significant m ightmgale's hfe - a convent mRome, where she went to m d1tate; her birthplace in Florence; the convent of the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul m Paris where he tried in vam to recruit nurses:

one who nursed her 111 mother. There's alway someone like that in the family." Although her father believed in educating his daughters, he did not bd1eve In educating them for ca- reers, and family friction developed after Florence announced that she actually wanted to work as a nurse, Palmer said It wa nl until she wa m her late twenh that she wa able to prac:,. lice nursing in an institution for dlS• abletl, retired governes es. She took her tramrng ID Germany It lasted only a few months. But 10 1854, when he wa 34, the Crimean War broke out and she was able to find and meet the great chal- lenge Engli h troops were sent by the thou ·and to fight alongside the r nch. Aft r o reached Eng- l.in he devastatmg condition ·uffered by the wounded oldiers, the governm nt decided to send women !her as nur e . '.'lightingale, with contact in high place , was urged o lake a group of them. The hospital was in what was then called Scutari and now Uskudar, Turkey. The hospital building is now the headquarters of the Turkish Army. In 1982, Palmer was invited by the Turk1 h nurse' association to VISlt the site. It was the high point of her re- earch and gave her a VIVld under- standing of the significance of Night- ingale's work there "The building wa. enormous - about a mile square, made with towers in each of the four corners One tower, which has about four room., was as igned to Nightingale, and I now a Nightingale mu eum." The ho p1tal had to be huge You can understand it when you rcaliz that many 5,000 wound- ed old1ers would be brought rn after b ttl and w h n you r llze that 5,000 died there m JU t two months

JUN 7

1985

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/ Dunphy's building workload to set record

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rl..U - -.5, CurrenCforrstruction workload at San Diego-based Dunphy Construc- tion Co. is running at the heaviest level in its 25-year history and a record 1985 sales year is projected, according to Dean Dunphy, presi- dent. "Current jobs under way and those contracted and soon to begin total $65 million," Dunphy said. "Most but not all will be completed this year and we recently increased our sales projections for 1985 to $45 million." Since Dunphy's best previous sales year was 1983 with approximately $33 million, the veteran building firm is a virtually sure bet to have a record year for revenues, the chief executive and founder noted. "Our expansion program is paying off," Dunphy added. "But we're not sitting still. Our goal is to double our current level over the next five years given reasonable stability in the na- tional economy." Dunphy said major projects in the $65 million backlog are a $7 million high-tech clean-room facility in the Pomona area, the $15 million com- puter center for General Dynamics at Kearny Mesa, a pair of office buildings valued at $17 million and $16 million in San Bernardino Coun- ty, a $2 million medical office build- !ng in La Mesa and a $1 million phys- ical plant for Univ.ersjty nf San

Diego, as well as a record number of other Jobs in commercial, industrial and institutional fields. Dunphy credited the firm's posi- tive forecast to "a strong economy nationwide and especially in South- ern California, an aggressive compa- ny expansion effort and a reputation built over 25. years for good work, honesty and fISCal responsibility." Dunphy said the company's full fis- cal automation has also been benefi- cial to clients by permitting constant monitoring of job costs versus budg- et. Dunphy said his firm's improved posture has now moved it into the top five among heavy-construction firms headquartered in San Diego and he expects to stay there.

DEAN DUNPHY President of Dunphy Construction

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