Helen Fairchild

One of the lesser known figures in nursing history is Helen Fairchild. As a nurse in World War I she was determined to make a difference to the injured. She entered the battlefield in 1917, but unfortunately, her story does not end as well as it began.

As one of the sixty-four nurses from Pennsylvania Hospital Unit Ten, she volunteered to be in the American Expeditionary Force to help soldiers who had been wounded. She spent much of her time in a Casualty Clearing Station in Ypres-Passchendaele, and was one of the nurses expected to cover an area comparable to the base hospital's two thousand beds, a difficult challenge at best.

Letters she wrote tell of having to stand in mud to treat patients and that the pace was frenetic. Base hospitals could offer a certain amount of backup and rest time, while the clearing stations were expected to treat patients quickly, then send them to a main hospital, or, if possible, back to the field. Fourteen hour days were often the norm.

While the cause of her death is undetermined, it appears it may have been caused by either the chloroform that was used in surgery or possibly from a mustard gas bombing.