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There were just a few
pages in the smaller folder but what was there held precise and accurate
directions. This was the job description for my lowly clerk-typist job. I
was too aware of government paper work to believe, even for an instant, my
only duty would be just to answer the telephone. I followed the outline of
what they wanted with regards to files. That alone was going to be a major
undertaking. This called for the 1000 students and their medical records to
be individually kept and not just as a group for whatever treatment was
involved. That wasn't going to happen with old records. There was no way I
was going to go into the head nurse's fat file. I decided that the filing
system would be set up as they wanted it to be and just to go forward with
keeping records from that time forward when the students came in for
treatment. The instructions said that we were to write to the children's
parents for records from their doctor at home. How I was going to achieve
this wasn't in my thinking at the time.
My respect for the
head nurse's intellect came about in the next few days. The Arkansas River
running along side Chilocco was at flood-stage. The river ran along the edge
of Arkansas City where the sewage system for the city was located. Water for
the Chilocco school came from wells.
The 1000 students came
through the clinic in a long line for typhoid immunization. The nurses
worked steadily as the quiet children obediently rolled up their sleeve in
order to be inoculated. I wasn't a nurse but I was determined the records
would be kept. Each student's name and personal information I recorded on
cards as they went through. As the nurses were working through, I discovered
that after the name and record was made I could take a piece of cotton to
swab the children's arms with alcohol for the nurse so she could go ahead
with the shot. This small gesture seemed to be the one to endear me to the
nurses. I thought it was nothing, really, but somehow, they were deeply
appreciative and from that time they were all on my side in the quiet battle
the head nurse and I had.
Now I had names for
individual folders. Little did I know how much this angered my supervisor.
Actually her way of slipping a piece of paper into the fat folder saying
1000 students had been inoculated for typhoid was okay since she evidently
knew every name of the student by memory but it wasn't what the government
wanted. Mr. Correll was gone and his thinking was still operating. He knew
the nurse would soon be retiring and records would be essential for anyone
who had to take on her job. Old ways were beginning to slip away even at
that time. Few newer employees coming in would take on the same dedication
for knowing each student's name and something about them as a person. The
head nurse had to be given credit for this part of her personality.
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