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Army Nurse Corps at Tuskegee Doing Extraordinarily Fine Performance

Nurses are Alert and Ready to Take Over at All Times--They Work Hard, But Participate in All Kinds of Activities for Fun and Relaxation

TUSKEGEE, Ala., Oct. 22--Station hospital, of Tuskegee Army Flying school, has on its staff, 13 young women who were admitted to this post from Fort Bragg, N.C., Camp Livingston, La., and civilian life. These young women are from some of the most outstanding nurse training schools in the country. The results of their training and graduate work have been beautifully demonstrated as they perform their daily duties in this Air Force hospital, commanded by a well-experienced flight surgeon. The hospital is not any too large, but well equipped to care for officers, enlisted men and their dependents.
The duties of a ward nurse who is under the supervision of the chief nurse, are to supervise the care and handling of the patients, administer medications and carry out prescribed treatments. Each nurse is alert at all times and ready to take over in case of emergencies. Only eight hours' duty are required, but members of the Army Nurse corps are on call 24 hours a day. Tired? Very seldom. These young women do not allow their work to become nerve wrecking. Enlisted men are carefully trained to care for the patients under the supervision of the ward nurse. A well-trained enlisted man or ward-master--as he is called--it [[is]] to an army nurse what the student nurse is in civilian life. In general, the duties of an army nurse are much the [[same as?]] general duty in a civilian [[?]] with the exception that there [[?]] bedside nursing in the Army.
The army [[?]] stationed here are doing more than nurse the sick and the wounded. There are few activities they have not participated in on this post. Drilling is quite simple to them. They even go on early morning hikes (about 5:30) before reporting for duty. Gas mask drills and a trip through the gas chamber were given the nurses several weeks ago. Afraid of flying? Of course not. Each nurse has had a trip or several trips to the clouds. Some are quite fond of flying and some others would rather remain on the ground. If a call is issued for flight nurses several nurses at this station are fully qualified to serve. The coveralls worn by the nurses are very much like the ones worn by the cadets.
Off duty, the nurses engage in cards, ping-pong, darts, play the latest recordings on their G.I.-R.C.A. Victor phonograph radio-combination and frequent the post theatre.

CHIEF NURSE
[[image]]
The above is an attractive photo of Chief Nurse Della H. Raney, Station hospital, Tuskegee Army Flying school, Tuskegee, Ala.

Chief Nurse Quoted on Army Progress

NORFOLK -- First Lieutenant Della Raney, chief nurse at the U.S. Army Hospital at Tuskegee, Ala., Air Base, was featured in a front page news story in the Philadelphia Record (a white daily) dated May 23. Lt. Raney was quoted as telling of the progress made by Negroes in the armed forces.
"I have seen plenty of progress in Uncle Sam's armed forces," she said.
Lt. Raney is a native of Suffolk, Va., a graduate of Virginia State College and is well known in Norfolk and vicinity. She is the first Negro woman to be commissioned in the Army Air Corps.
18 IN LAST WAR
She said during World War I only 18 colored nurses were inducted into service, and that was after the Armistice. 
"Today," Lt. Raney continued, "there are 20 colored nurses stationed with me at Tuskegee, and three recently were sent overseas. There are other Negro nurses serving at various camps throughout the country, two of whom have the rank of chief nurse."
She made the statement that "everything isn't as it should be but things are much better than certain agitators would have you believe." 
Lt. Raney has been in the service for two years. She took her nurse training at the Lincoln Hospital, Durham, N.C. "The Negro gets out of Army life what he puts into it," she concluded.
The story carried a picture of Lt. Raney and the by line of Orrin C. Evans.

Tuskegee, Ala.
TUSKEGEE, Ala.--Liet. Den[[?]] Raney of Norfolk, Va., became the first woman to reach the rank of lieutenant in the United States army when she won her bars recently. She is stationed here at the hospital base as a member of the Army Nurse Corps. During World War I she was also first to enlist in the nursing corps. The officer attended Virginia State college, and before her induction was supervisor of the operating room at Lincoln hospital, Durham, N.C. [[handwritten note]] How old are you

[[image]]
Lt. Reed

[[image]]
Lt. Raney

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[[image: photo of woman in uniform]] [[image: photo of man]] [[image: photo of woman]]