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Nelle McDuffee Root
Nelle McDuffee Root
I was born January 25, 1900, on a farm near Farnhamville,Iowa. I graduated from 8th grade at a county school near Rinard, Iowa.
My first two years of high scho...ver maisNelle McDuffee Root
I was born January 25, 1900, on a farm near Farnhamville,Iowa. I graduated from 8th grade at a county school near Rinard, Iowa.
My first two years of high school were in Rockwell City, Iowa. I graduated from high school in the new consolidated high school in Rinard, Iowa.
After graduation from high school, I entered nurses training at the Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Fort Dodge, Iowa. I had six months of training there then entered the Saint Olaf Lutheran Hospital in Austin, Minnesota. I graduated from there. After graduation, I was asked to be night supervisor for a time. Then I applied to the new Kahler Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota doing special duty nursing. I was on special duty for several years. Then I was asked by the superintendent of nurses at the Kahler to take a position in the new oxygen chambers for the Mayo Clinic. That was the beginning of the use of high content oxygen for the critically ill patients. I soon discovered that working the oxygen chambers did not only just include patients from all the hospitals in Rochester, it also included patients from every major county in the world, and too it included many famous doctors from every foreign county. Often they were accompanied by one or more great doctors.
Sometimes it was my duty to explain to them all about the oxygen chamber, the high content oxygen, and the success that we were having with the new treatment. Every new patient admitted to one of the chambers was quickly visited by the head doctor of every department at the clinic. They took no chances of any symptoms no matter how small, being missed or overlooked. The sad part about it was that many of the patients were poor and could to afford a doctor when they needed one, then by the time we got them in the chambers it was often too late.
One day, the charge book was left on my desk, partially opened. I noticed the writing “no charges” on the page. Then as I looked through it I discovered many pages marked “no charges”.
The Pioneer Doctors of the Mayo Clinic were completely dedicated to their profession. Money was not important to them. Their dream was to help the sick and the suffering.
I felt a deep reverence for all of them. I still feel that I was in the right place at the right time, and I am very proud of having the experience of working for the best doctors in the world.
I always felt small when in their presence.
The oxygen content was high in the chambers and highly inflammable. I was trained to never allow anyone in without first asking them if they had matches in their pockets or any other flammable substance.
The first time Doctor Will Mayo came to the room, my first thought was that I would not have to ask him that question, after all, the oxygen chambers were his experiment. Then I realized that I had to check him out too. I finally asked “Dr. Mayo Do you have any matches in your pocket?”
He looked at me with a surprised look on his face and I felt too, with a disgusted look. Then it came to me that he thought I was needing a smoke. And of course I never smoked. When he realized that I had to check matches out, he was terribly embarrassed, as I was too. We had a laugh over it.
I also have a diploma from the Minnesota State Hospital as Saint Paul, Minnesota for indigent, crippled and deformed children. Also, I worked for a year doing general duty at the Saint Vincent’s General Hospital in Portland, Oregon.
I left the nursing profession in 1928 to get married to a Rochester, Minnesota fireman. We had two children.
When our county was again at war, I returned to the profession. Because so many nurses had gone over seas, and there was a serious shortage of nurses this time, I reported to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. This time I was asked “Which floor would you like to work on?”
The old hospital was still in use along with the knew part. I asked if I could work in the old part. It sounded silly maybe, but I wanted to walk the old halls and work in the time rooms where the Mayos had their beginning. I was happy just working where those great men had accomplished so much for humanity. Dr. Will and Charlie Mayo, Dr. Walter Judd, Dr. James C. Mason, Dr. Mussey, Dr. Pemberton, Dr. C. F. Dixon, Dr. Hunt, and the Doctors Plummer.ver menos