ADVANCE Book Club for Nurses reads about gutsy Southerner Kate Cumming!

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 01, 2009 – Kate Cumming was definitely ahead of her time. The genteel Southern woman did not believe women of her region should hesitate to volunteer to “nurse” soldiers during the Civil War. While her duties were very different from the fast-paced, high-tech, nursing of the 21st century, Cumming believed strongly that it was nursing and could not understand why any woman would hesitate to step forward. And she wasn’t afraid to say so.

Her memoir recounting her experiences, Kate: The Journal of a Confederate Nurse, is the September/October selection for the ADVANCE for Nurses Book Club for Nurses at http://nursing.advanceweb.com, scroll down to Calling All Book Worms.

Cumming began keeping her journal as soon as she volunteered in April 1862. Faithfully, and almost daily, she recorded her thoughts until May 1865 when the war ended. Prominent among her observations were long passages railing against Southern women for their refusal to volunteer to nurse the wounded.

Read the book and join the discussion at http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/Calling-All-Biblio ... until Nov. 3. Watch a video of Civil War collector Chris Foard, RN, sharing his mementos of Clara Barton, another Civil War nurse who went on to found the American Red Cross. Also, listen to a podcast interview with Foard on what Cumming and other women contributed to the profession. To top it off, view a slide show of Civil War medical memorabilia from the Chimborazo Medical Museum, in Richmond, VA.

Next up Nov. 4, Saving Lives: Why the Media’s Portrayal of Nursing Puts Us All at Risk by Sandy and Harry Jacobs Summers.

About the ADVANCE for Nurses Online Book Club for Nurses

The online book club discusses six books annually. 2010 offerings will include Impaired: a Nurse’s Story of Addiction and Recovery by Patricia Holloran, We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese by Elizabeth Norman, and Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina, co-author Denise Danna, DNS, RN, among others. A book is read and discussed every two months. Similar to a traditional book club, members read the book and join in on the online conversation, which is complemented by a podcasted interview or video with the author or a related expert.

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About ADVANCE for Nurses

ADVANCE for Nurses addresses the needs and interests of RNs across the country with nine regional newsmagazines reaching more than 800,000 nurses, 16 regional Web sites, live and virtual events, and social networks.

• Jennifer Ellison
• Natalie Imbruglia