Twenty practical nurses, the first class ever to be graduated from a hospital-attached school of practical nursing in Louisiana, received their certificates at Charity hospital Wednesday night.
Mrs. Hazel Benoit Brehm, chosen by the staff as outstanding all-round nurse of the class, became the first to be graduated from Charity's school of practical nursing. She is a member of the class which started when the school was initiated March 17 1950.
Their graduation marked what Dr. Charles B. Odom, principal speaker, described as a new era in better nursing service for the public.
Louisiana, Dr. Odom said, is one of only four states in the union which now require practical nurses to pass examinations and to be licensed before they can legally attend the sick. The Charity course is geared to train nurses thoroughly for bedside service, he said, and to qualify them for state licenses.
[PHOTO CAPTION READS] GRADUATION IS FAMILY AFFAIR this year for Howard L. Brehm and his mother, Mrs. Hazel Benoit Brehm whom he is congratulating. Mrs. Brehm was graduated Wednesday from the Charity hospital school of practical nursing. Her son, 13, is scheduled to be graduated from the Mater Dolorosa school this spring.
