Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/317

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301
A Short History of Nursing

Nursing in other Countries 301 ment to which training schools were attached, organized under the Department of Charities, and planned from the outset on a model scale. From 1 90 1 on, the chief responsibility of directing the entire system was given to Miss Hibbard, and she and Mrs. Quintard sat upon a committee of the Central Board of Charities of Havana which drew up the controlling regulations. These comprised state recognition and state-conferred degrees, at the end of a three-year training course. Thus Cuba at one stroke attained what other countries have laboriously reached by slow stages. The experiment of training young Cuban girls of re- finement was very gratifying, and Miss Hibbard helped them to unite in a national society and join in international affairs. The American policy was to withdraw as soon as the Cubans were ready to take their places, and this they did. Cuban nurses, we believe, will some day have a big mission field in South America, if they do not relax their efforts. Work of the same character was Porto Rico carried on in Porto Rico by Amy Pope. United States nurses have done creditable work in organizing training schools for Fili- xhePhilip- pino girls and also for young men nurses. The results have been such as to cause the greatest satisfaction. Far more important, however, than