The National School of Nursing

A friend of The Woman's Voice, the energetic Mrs. Anissa Rawda Najjar, visited the National School of Nursing to give the readers, men and women, of The Woman's Voice a true idea of this great national project.
Let us listen to her tell of it...

★

A hospital, then a "clinic," then the home of Dr. Khalidi stand as an eastern wall for the National School of Nursing in Ras Beirut.
For Dr. Mustafa Khalidi, who founded this school in 1948, watches over it in all its aspects: he teaches in it, his friends are its teachers, donating their efforts and their knowledge, and Dr. Khalidi spends from his own money on this school.

I entered the National School of Nursing to convey to the readers of The Woman's Voice something true about a mighty work that one man, with his good will and his patriotic drive, was able to accomplish, and to draw their attention to the latent capacity of the individual — how great and useful it is when its possessor can bring it into being.

The reception room is on the upper floor. The dismissal bell had rung, and here were the pupils still streaming toward the administration room, and here was the secretary, Miss Khanum, coming and going with pen and papers in hand. At last, praise God, she noticed my presence. No sooner had I asked for the directress than she hastened to apologize.
— Yes, the directress is here, in the second classroom.
Pardon us, we did not notice you; we are finishing the accounts of the kermesse (the charity bazaar) which we held on Saturday for the school. It was a success. We may take in a thousand liras.
— And what will you do with this money?
— We have the girls' uniforms, and the rent of the building, and... and...
I said: Has the school no income from the pupils themselves?
She said: There are 66 pupils in the school, Lebanese and Palestinian, and admission is free except for 75 Lebanese liras, paid to cover the materials and instruments the pupil uses.
— That is a meager income. Who bears the rest of the expenses?
She said: Dr. Khalidi... and what charitable people donate.
I said: I read in this booklet that you accept holders of the elementary certificate. Is this the general level of the nurse with you?
She said: No. The "brevet" is the entrance level; but what you are reading is a passing opportunity that will not come again. It is for those whose educational level is below the complementary certificate: they may come to our summer school and prepare themselves to enroll in the school at the beginning of next year.

Mrs. Armali, the directress of the school, came in, so we moved to the administration room, and the directress apologized for her lateness, owing to her having only recently taken over the administration.
I said: The problem of taking over from the former directress is arduous, but harder still is the administration itself, especially if you have a program of your own.

She said: Of course I have a program of my own. I believe greatly in the capabilities of my country, and I hold that if we are sincere and cooperate, we can match any institution in the world in any project we please. There is nothing in this national school, for instance, to prevent it from proceeding on the model of the school from which I graduated: the American University of Beirut.

We shall set about perfecting our records and finding many opportunities to increase the nurse's practical experience; then the teaching staff will cooperate in raising the nurse's academic level, and this will be helped by raising the level of admission to the school from the elementary certificate to the complementary certificate.

I said: And where and how will you increase the nurse's experience — in Dr. Khalidi's hospital, you mean?

She said: No. All the hospitals of Beirut stand open to our pupils. According to a set program they move every morning, from eight to twelve, from one hospital to another, spending their training period there, and they report on their work in the theoretical classes in the afternoon.

I said: I understood from this booklet of yours that the conditions of admission are that the pupil master the Arabic language completely and one other foreign language, hold the complementary certificate, enjoy full health and the personality of a nurse, and desire to practice this profession. Would you explain to me what your measure is for this part of the entrance conditions? And the extent of your attention to the moral side, and its value in grades?

She said: I like this question, for it is at the heart of what I wish to accomplish while I direct this school.

In the first part of the school year the "consecration" of the nurse takes place: the school board meets and looks into the averages of the new pupils and decides which of them may continue their studies. It requires that the average be not less than sixty points; naturally the board relies also on its own judgment.

I said: And does this short period suffice for such a judgment?

— No; mistakes are inevitable. But we make up for them with those who remain. Among the subjects taught — such as physics, psychology, anatomy, the history of nursing, and so on — there is a discipline called "professional adjustment," and in it the nurse learns her duties on the moral side to which you referred. This subject has its very great importance, and it is taught in all three stages of the school. And I shall do my utmost to make certain it has been digested in the minds of our graduates. Moreover, our nurses swear the oath of fidelity to their profession.

The spirit in this school is good, and I shall digress from the subject to tell you of this phenomenon:

It has been our custom to make small excursions during the holidays, and tomorrow we begin the spring vacation, so our trip will be to Damascus. To fix the date I gathered the pupils and appointed Friday and Saturday as the days of the trip; but the Christian pupils objected that it would fall on Good Friday. So I said Monday and Tuesday, then; but the Christians objected again that it falls on the Great Feast. And when I said, then let the rest of the pupils go, I was taken aback by the objection of the Muslim pupils, who said: "We will not go without our companions." And I tell you truly, they put me in a quandary... quite a pleasant one.

When our school comes to have a hospital of its own embracing every field of training, this spirit will come into its own, and the board and the administration will have a hand in graduating excellent social workers for our dear homeland.

I said: You are truly ambitious. Poor Dr. Khalidi's pocket!!

— The matter is not difficult if intentions are pure and devotion is sure. What prevents the people of this country from looking upon this school as a project to build one of the cornerstones of this land, and contributing one of its stones?

We have a teacher named Muhammad al-Muqaddam — if you could see his earnestness: how he teaches his classes, how he applies his program, and with what devotion every step of his work is taken — you would gain an idea of how convinced the devoted are of the importance of our project. And once the devoted are convinced, they will show their esteem with their assistance. Then too, the Maqasid Charitable Association is building a hospital of its own; if the government granted us some money, we could build our school within that hospital.

— God willing, I shall convey this request of yours in the pages of The Woman's Voice; perhaps its voice will resound in the ears of those responsible.

And I took leave of Mrs. Aida Armali, resolved in my heart to congratulate Professor Anis al-Maqdisi on the drive of his daughter and her true patriotism, and Dr. Khalidi on the happy choice of his assistant — or perhaps on the breath of his spirit in every corner of his projects.

The National School of Nursing is a noble project that fills a gap in our social renaissance. However lofty the services of the foreign institutions, they will never yield fruit directed toward filling our needs with sure devotion and understanding like the institutions that arise from us and for us alone.