![]() They were often frustrated because their families and communities expected them to return to their domestic roles, but the war had given them a new-found sense of independence and self-reliance. When the war ended, many of the women found it difficult to readjust to the sheltered lifestyles that awaited them at home. They had also worked within a matriarchal hierarchy - a rare occurrence in the early twentieth century world. In a time when women's roles were firmly planted in the domestic sphere, they had made significant and very public contributions to the war effort. The work was traumatic, but it also gave the VADs and the professional nurses who went overseas a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. Then I remembered that every second of waiting meant pain for him." …The sight and sound of his pain was so awful that once, when I went to the bathroom with a tray full of dressings, I found myself panting and had to lean against the wall. He had a horrible dressing and the drum was so tightly packed that it was almost impossible to get the gauze, etc, out with our old blunt lifter. ![]() I was on alone with the head sister when he came back from op and all the next day alone as the other VAD had her whole day off. "Poor old Sergeant MacD, a Nova Scotian soldier, elderly, had his leg off. Sybil Johnson worked in a military hospital near Liverpool during the war: "The last few days have been awful," she wrote in her diary on September 27, 1917. Some patients would never heal and the VADs could only ease their pain while waiting for them to die. Day after day, they cared for injured soldiers - men, who arrived with severed limbs, gunshot wounds, and countless other injuries. The work took a heavy emotional and physical toll on the VADs. After he told us we passed you can imagine how light we felt." (Archives and Special Collections Division, Coll. He asked me how to make a linseed meal poultice, etc. ![]() I had to read the clinical thermometer, and treat a case of poisoning. He then asked me what I would do in a case of diphtheria, what disinfectants I would use, and how strong to use them. He then asked me how I would change an under sheet for a person who was very ill. Miss Janes was supposed to have a broken collar bone and a severe bleeding from the palm of the hand which could not be stopped, I of course had to treat it. Burden's last Tuesday night to be examined on First Aid and Home Nursing," she wrote on October 29, 1916. John's and described her experiences in the many letters she sent to her family. As a result, VADs typically came from the middle and upper classes they could afford training fees and had enough time and money to work for little or no income.įrances Cluett, from Belleoram, Fortune Bay, joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment in 1916. The VADs had to pay for their own training and did not receive a salary until 1915, when the War Office gave them £20 per annum. They took courses in first aid, home nursing, and hygiene they volunteered in local hospitals and open-air drills taught them how to pitch hospital tents, care for wounded soldiers, and build and cook on camp fires. VADs had to complete several weeks of training before going overseas.
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