This post was written by Grems-Doolittle Library Volunteer Gail Denisoff.
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Aerial view of Ellis Hospital around 1944.
Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. |
In the early months of 1941, before the United States
declared war on Japan, Ellis Hospital was already preparing for the possibility
of war. In
The Hospital Courier, a newsletter Published by Ellis Hospital,
more and more articles were being written about the role of the hospital in
national defense.
The June 1941 issue described the problems hospitals were
facing because of the National Defense Program.
Nurses and doctors were being called from hospital staffs to serve in
Army and Navy camps and to fill positions in expanded industrial plants. Defense industries were offering higher wages
forcing hospitals to increase salaries to retain personnel. Suppliers were increasing prices of medical
supplies because of the demand by countries at war while delaying delivery of
goods. Ellis, like other hospitals, was
feeling the pinch, especially since they weren’t fully recovered from the
depression and needed community support.
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Ellis Cadet Nurse Corps in 1944. From the Ellis Hospital Collection
at the Grems-Doolittle Library. |
By 1942 the problems intensified. There was a shortage of nurses for both
civilian and military hospitals. Nursing
schools were increasing enrollment of students while giving more responsibility
to nurses’ aides and other non-professional workers. Ellis began training their first group of 25
women for the Red Cross Volunteer Nurses’ Aide Corps which was to be ready for
active service as of March 1, 1942. By
June, Ellis was training its third class although they were still short of the
Schenectady quota for volunteer nurses’ aides.
The 38 students entering the Ellis Hospital School of
Nursing in September 1942 was the largest in it's history. These young women had “chosen a field of
study where they can immediately meet the war time needs of the country." At the same time, there were concerns. Because of the increasing demands for
doctors, nurses and hospital facilities there were suggestions to curtail
hospitalization of maternity patients and eliminate courses in obstetrical and
pediatric nursing from nursing school curriculum to prepare students more
quickly for service with the Army and Navy.
Hospitals didn’t want to sacrifice gains made in lowering maternal and
infant mortality rates and were actively fighting those proposals.
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Ellis nurse being sworn in. From the Ellis Hospital Collection
at the Grems-Doolittle Library. |
By October 1942 forces serving overseas had their full quota
of medical personnel according to the AMA but more physicians were needed for
troops assigned to the US. All
able-bodied physicians under the age of 37 were being called for active duty
and a high percentage of those under 45 were also being called. The resulting shortage of doctors to care of
the civilian population was hoped to be offset by redistribution of hospital
doctors and the call for patients to visit doctors at their offices rather than
having them make house calls, conserving time.
On the home front, stepped up war production and the
resulting rise in employment were factors in the sharp increase of accidents
and deaths due to industrial accidents.
According to the National Safety Council, job related fatalities in the
first year following Pearl Harbor totaled 46,500 while injuries topped 4
million putting a strain on hospitals.
Ellis was no exception to this trend.
With war production booming at the General Electric and American
Locomotive plants, there were many work-related injuries resulting in hospital
visits putting a strain on the reduced staff.
By mid-1943, food rationing greatly restricted the amount
and variety of foods that could be purchased for patients. Hospital menus became much less varied. F
ruits, vegetables and
meats appeared on hospital menus less often.
Dietitians and Red Cross Canteen Corps workers tried to produce balanced
diets for patients with what they had.
Patients in the hospital for more than seven days were required to
surrender their ration books and the hospital was required to remove the proper
number of stamps and turn them in to the local rationing board. The hospital was not able to get extra food
supplies for the stamps, however. Hospital
kitchens and individuals were also called upon to save waste fats when
cooking. When a pound or more was
accumulated, they were to take it to a local meat dealer who would send it to a
renderer as a material for glycerin, an essential ingredient not only in the
manufacture of ammunition but also medicinal preparations such as surgical
dressings, acid burn jellies, antiseptics and sulfa ointments. New mothers were being instructed to breast
feed their babies due to the shortage of milk.
Nursing professionals estimated that by the end of 1943, one
in four graduate nurses would be needed by some branch of the armed forces both
domestically and overseas. Even more
would be required to serve in industrial plants causing even more of a drain on
hospitals. Patients were encouraged not
to request private duty nurses, which was common at the time. The School of
Nursing enrollment was increased and a second class of students was set to
begin in February of 1944. Ellis was
continuing to train Red Cross Volunteer Nurses’ Aides with over 85 in active
service and 50 being trained by the fall of 1943. In addition, a new training
program was being initiated for the US Cadet Nurse Corps. It offered young women high school graduates
an accelerated training course with all expenses paid and a monthly
stipend. In return, they would be
available for essential nursing, civilian or military services for the duration
of the war.
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Unidentified serviceman at Ellis looking at a baby.
From the Ellis Hospital Collection at the Grems-Doolittle Library. |
The number of births recorded in 1943 was an all-time high
for the United States. As a result, Congress
appropriated $20,000,000 in the 1944 fiscal year for the Maternal Care
Program. The program was intended to
provide maternal and infant care for wives of servicemen who were earning below
their civilian pay levels and couldn’t otherwise afford hospital care. Ellis Hospital and their doctors cooperated
with the Federal government in the local implementation of the program and care
was equal to that given to non-military patients.
Staffing concerns continued to be a critical issue. The demand for 10,000 more graduate nurses in
the armed services by July 1, 1944 was causing a strain on hospitals throughout
the country. Local and state authorities
were pushing for an equitable distribution of civilian and military nurses to
keep home front hospitals above the danger level in staffing. All nurses between the ages of 21 and 45 who
were physically fit and had no children under the age of 14 were classified as
available for military service unless filling what was considered an essential
nursing position in a hospital or public health agency. Even those nurses in
essential positions, who were older, had families or not considered physically
fit were classified as “essential for limited duration”. The fall 1944 class of the nursing school
was the largest in its history at 47, 42 of which were members of the Cadet
Nurse Corps. Ellis relied more and more
on volunteers. By early 1944, eleven
classes of Red Cross Volunteer Aides had finished training programs and a new
class had begun. A new group, the Red
Cross Dietitian’s Aides, were being trained to assist hospital dietitians with
preparation of well-balanced patient meals, an ongoing challenge due to food
rationing and limitations. Civilians
were being asked to find ways they could help their local hospitals function.
Each Hospital Courier Newsletter ran
banners asking readers to buy war bonds, volunteer with the Red Cross, conserve
paper for war needs and enlist recruits for the Cadet Nurse Corps.
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Volunteers from the Schenectady County Chapter of the
American Red Cross setting up a food table from the
World War II photo collection of Hershel Graubart. |
Ellis joined the Red Cross and other hospitals around the
country in collecting blood and plasma for use by the armed forces. By the end of 1943 close to 6 million units
had been collected with another 5 million units requested for 1944. Civilians were encouraged to regularly give
blood for both military and local use. In 1940, Ellis had opened the first
blood bank east of Chicago and was essential in this endeavor. Locally, there was a noticeable increase in
accidents causing severe injury or death to children under the age of 14. This was attributed to fathers being away and
mothers not at home, working in war industries.
Traffic fatalities were down due to gas rationing but household and
industrial accidents continued to rise.
Care for accident victims took a toll on hospitals in the form of unpaid
bills and putting more of a strain on limited staffs and supplies.
The heavy influx of injured workers from GE and ALCO
overtaxed the facilities of the hospital.
In 1944 alone, 14,657 patients were admitted to Ellis. With the staffing shortages, it was sometimes
necessary to close some floors and limit surgery to emergency cases. The Red Cross volunteers proved invaluable
during this time.
As the war continued to rage on in Europe, hospitals on the
home front began to prepare for the post war challenges to come. Hospital
services would need to be expanded to meet the needs of injured veterans. It was expected that many hospitals would be
building additions and updating facilities in the post war years. Adequate care of wounded veterans and their
families would be a major national concern and hospitals would need to work
with the government to ensure veterans receive care in their local communities
for both service and non-service related disabilities. Even though mortality rates were dramatically
down from previous wars due to the care received on the front, civilian
hospitals were expected to receive an influx of war veterans with a wide range
of injuries and special needs. The
Rehabilitation Act proposed using all existing hospital facilities for the treatment
of returning military as well as civilians disabled by injury. Federal and state funds were to be used for
this program and civilian hospitals were expected to make every possible bed
available when asked to do so by the Veterans Bureau. Cadet nurses were still
being recruited to begin training so that they would be ready to serve in
veteran’s hospitals and for postwar duties in civilian hospitals. In total, 104 Cadet nurses were trained at
Ellis Hospital.
Even with the war winding down in mid-1945, the increase in
returning veterans and the depleted hospital staffs was causing some hospitals
to curtail admissions. By this time.
Over 60,000 doctors, 54,000 graduate nurses and thousands of technicians were
serving the military while civilian hospitals were treating more patients than
any time in their histories. Ellis was
meeting the need of the community through the dedication of their staff and
volunteers.
At the end of the war, returning doctors and nurses were
welcomed with open arms. Hospitals
slowly began rebuilding their staffs and changing to meet the needs of veterans. Veteran nurses returned home with valuable
skills and experiences, increasing their professional status. The Army had
trained many nurses in specialties such as anesthesia and psychiatric care, and
nurses who had served overseas had acquired practical experience otherwise
unobtainable. These new skills proved
invaluable for Ellis and other hospitals as they continued to meet the
challenges of post war America.
