Infirmary worker writes

Dear Editor,

I wanted to make a correction in the article by Linda Hein in the Main Street article of the Saturday -- Sunday edition of the Gazette: in regard to the infirmary and nurses who worked there as Industrial Nurses during the Army Airbase construction.

The infirmary was built on the base at the very beginning of the construction. A Mr. Orchard of Omaha, who was an insurance agent for Employers Mutual Insurance, Co., of Wisconsin, contacted me and I was interviewed and hired to have charge of the infirmary.

I was to work 7 a.m to 3 p.m. and two more registered nurses were also hired to work 3-11 p.m. Mrs. Augusta Hanke and Ruth Eisenhart were to work 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

We were to be staffed all 24 hours. Before we could begin work, we went to the office in McCook, were fingerprinted, a mugshot was taken, and we were given a security number and identification tag, which we had to show to the guard at the entrance gate before we could drive through.

Security was very tight. I opened the infirmary and we began treating the injured workers as they started to work.

They were soon working 24-hours, 3 shifts a day, as it was urgent to get the base ready to train the incoming soldiers.

Patti McDonald Co. of Kansas City was the first contractor of the project and Peter Kiewit and Sons of Omaha was the contractor on the second phase of he construction, with many sub-contractors.

Our infirmary had two rooms. One for a waiting room for injured workers and one a treatment room, with adequate emergency supplies.

The more severely injured workers were sent to the contracted doctor in McCook.

This is accurate history as I was there and lived it. Linda was not in error as she only printed what was published in the September 1942 Gazette saying "Nurses worked 10 hours on two shifts."

This was not correct, at least when I worked there.

Mildred L. Zink

McCook