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| “Student nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital” by Alfred Eisenstaed |
My final blog entry is (tragically)
from LIFE.com and is titled “Student nurses at New York's Roosevelt Hospital”
by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Last week was National
Nurses Week and because I intend to pursue a career in medicine and my SO is in
nursing school, I felt this image would be an appropriate conclusion to my
blog.
The
photo is interesting for its disorienting symmetry. The nurses are in some sort
of lecture hall, and are likely in the middle of a class. The six different rows
of the hall appear to be stacked almost vertically due to the angle the photograph
was taken. The image feels as if it would go on forever. The rows, which are
filled with similarly dressed nurses, give each part of the image a nearly identical
look. Each nurse is dressed so uniformly you actually need to pay attention to
each one individually to draw features out of them. Many of them have their
hands posed the same way, as if to brace them for their inevitable nap during
the lecture. This feeling of uniformity is increased because the image is taken
in black and white. Distinguishing features are difficult to find.
I
have nothing but the highest respect for nurses. Their schooling is a grueling
experience, and they are the unsung heroes of any hospital. As I’ve mentioned earlier,
this particular image resonates on a personal level. It isn’t hard to imagine
the amount of stress the students pictured underwent in their rigorous schooling
experience. Remarkably, as much as healthcare has changed, this image is still relatable.
Though things may be different, lecture hall instruction is still a pillar of
the nursing school experience. Despite the way in which time alters life, there
will always be aspects that stay the same.
