The Good Nurse: A Woman's heroic service during World War Two

By Vincent Courtenay

The life of Irene Courtenay, the heroine of this book, ended tragically when she fell in her home and sustained a paralyzing spinal cord injury. Now the untold story of her heroism and her heartbreak is told in this sensitive documented novel, written by her brother, a long-time author and journalist. His mission was primarily to tell the story of this very brave woman, who began her nurse's training in a beautiful resort city on England's channel coast at age 18. A year later England and her native Canada were at war with Germany. That year Irene began treating victims of the bombings, often performing minor surgical procedures and providing advanced treatments that were far beyond the normal demands and responsibility of a student nurse. After living through repeated bombing raids and graduating, she volunteered to join the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, which had established several hospitals in war ravaged England. Soon after, she and the other nursing sisters from her general hospital are on their way to Italy on the troop ship S.S. Santa Elena. Their beautiful cruise into the Mediterranean ends when German bombers attack the convoy. The Santa Elena is struck by glide bombs and begins sinking, while the nursing sisters are below deck in their lightless cabins. They manage to get to their lifeboat station, but are set adrift by currents until rescued by an American destroyer. This is the horrible prelude to what awaits Irene in the ground war that is raging in Italy. It is a story of extreme heroism in a war that robbed a beautiful young woman of much happiness. The sorrow remained deep in her heart until the end of her days. The author stayed with her in her hospitals during the last four months of her life. The story also chronicles the unfortunate circumstances of Irene Courtenay's late life injury, and the irony of this professor of nursing receiving inadequate care and finally dying from an avoidable infection that developed in a Canadian long term care hospital. Of extreme interest to women in all professions, and especially those who work in the challenging profession of nursing. An interesting read for anyone with an interest in World War Two.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1544179669
• ISBN13: 9781544179667
• Release Date: March 2017
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 466 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.2" x 6.0"