p. 12 | Service for the Sick

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 9, 1903

Service for the Sick

As a practicing physician, the writer is often impressed with the lack of consideration given to details in dealing with the sick. Florence Nightingale is fond of relating her pleasurable sensations when flowers were first brought into her room, after a severe and protracted illness.

Those of us who are well can not appreciate the importance of trivial matters to an invalid. He who sees the flowers every day in the garden forgets how beautiful they are; but the convalescent, who has gazed at bare walls for weeks and weeks, sees a marvelous beauty in the things of nature. How often have we noticed the smile of pleasure at feeling the fresh air of out of doors blowing on the cheeks of the surgical patient for, perhaps, the first time since the operation.

With recovering health, the tray and the contents of its dishes become of great importance. A tray should be covered with the cleanest of cloths. Every dish should be scrupulously clean, and arranged in as dainty a fashion as possible. The serviette can be folded in various ways, but avoid sameness; a rosebud laid upon it will add much to the pleasure of the patient. In each dish there should be a small amount of food only. Thick slices of bread or toast, large dishes well filled with fruit or pudding—these are out of place on a tray. Nothing will more quickly take away the appetite than a lack of daintiness. It is always essential that hot dishes should be served hot, and cold dishes cold. Lukewarm soup or beverage is nauseating to most people.

A well-arranged tray should be beautiful to look upon, and its contents should be perfectly wholesome, and adapted to the wants of the patient. It must be served with a cheery smile and a kind word of encouragement.— Selected.