Heroines of Mercy Street

by Pamela D. Toler

[readingwithwrin]

"Dorothea Lynde Dix, a fifty-nine-year-old reformer dedicated to improving the treatment of prisoners, paupers, and the mentally ill, set out immediately to volunteer her services to create an army corps of female nurses to are for wounded soldiers, modeled on the group of nurses who followed Florence Nightingale to the Crimean War."

See reviews first on my blog!

I loved the TV show Mercy Street that was on PBS this past winter. When the show was over, I decided I wanted to learn more about the real nurses that worked at the hospital and how they overcame so many obstacles that were put in front of them.

Without the nurses that took care of the men, many more would have died from infection and malnutrition. Many families wouldn’t have known what happened to their sons/brothers/husbands without these women. The army didn’t have enough people to care for everyone, and the doctors didn’t feel like it was their job. There was corruption and constant change of command with who was in charge of supplies and how they got handed out, many things were stolen or sold to civilians for high prices.

Many of the women that worked at the hospitals went on and took on the woman’s vote rights, and even children’s rights as well. They changed the medical field forever, and showed that proper nursing care is just as important as a doctor’s work. At times even more important than anything else. They changed the way women war seen at that point in time, and made it possible for us to have what we have now.

I loved learning so much about these woman and what they did during and after and how they changed so many lives. I hope to read more about these women thanks to the books mentioned at the back that were used as references.