Anna Louise Tittman Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

ut the operation is simple. I would write these notes. K had to fill
out the form, ask the parent to came to school to have a talk about
this possibility the child dght have. It would be rra~bei granulated
eyelids. I'd put a question m k after it because I didnlt want to lap
pear to be diagnosing; or (pause) poor vision.
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Q. I was going to ask, did you check for vision and hehg?
A. Yes.
Q. How would you check them for vision?
A. Well, just that the report from the teacher had a lot to do with it.
Then I would hold up a letter and ask them to read it. 'Iyat was it, ahout
all we ~ d .
Now with the little ones, you how, you had to be careful not to fri ten,
but the big boys I couldn't reach and they had to get dom) like so, fkaops]
(laughter) so I could see Zn their throats. There were q ~me big boys in
the ei@th grade, too. I've often intended to a& Dr. (-udible) if he
was in school when I was looking down childrents throats, but I never have
done it.
Q. You should. lhey could've given you a little box to ?Land on.
A. Well, I miat have fallen off the box and then what?
Q. What was the treatmnt then for ganulated eyelids?
A. Well, the operation.
Q. They did have to operate?
A. Oh, they could do it in just a very short tim? . They gave an anesthetic
and it didn't anount to mything. I think it was just a lpcal mestktic,
as I remrber. And they had an instmnt that scraped that off. lhen they
had drops, you see, that their parents had to put in, too, daring the healing
process. And the parents were ta&t about that.
Now when they didn't c m to school to talk to me, I would have to go to
them. There wan' t transportatian. So Annie [Miss Tittm] she walked
down the railroad out there south, Harvard Park School and the Feitshms
School. 'Ihe families lived way out ., ?hat' s one thing.
Q. You and your little black bag?
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A. Yes,well, I justhadnlyrecords. Ididntthaveany trwnents.
When I did private duty nursing I had i-qq black bag with a1 the where with
all, everything but a bedpan and I could rmke one out of a baking pan. (chuckles)
Now this record is ri@t that it was 1912 to 1914, and tt as then that I
did the school nursing those two years. And I left it on because I was
urged to take this other position in the state.
Q. Was it Dr. Palmer who sort of instigated the idea of a
nurse?