Schwester Selma facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Schwester Selma
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Schwester Selma, 1968
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Selma Mayer
3 February 1884 Hanover, Germany
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| Died | 5 February 1984 (aged 100) Jerusalem, Israel
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| Occupation | Head nurse at Shaare Zedek Hospital |
Selma Mayer (born February 3, 1884 – died February 5, 1984), known as Schwester Selma (which means Sister Selma or Nurse Selma in German), was an amazing Israeli nurse. She was the head nurse at the first Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem for almost 50 years. For a long time, she was the main helper for the hospital's founder, Dr. Moshe Wallach. She worked very long hours and with few resources. From 1916 to the 1930s, she trained and guided everyone who worked at the hospital. In 1934, she started the Shaare Zedek School of Nursing. She never got married and lived in a room at the hospital until her last day. Later in her life, people called her the "Jewish Florence Nightingale" because she spent decades helping patients without thinking of herself.
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Early Life and Training
Selma Mayer was born on February 3, 1884, in Hanover, Germany. Her family was Jewish and not wealthy. Her mother passed away when Selma was only five years old, leaving five young children without a mother. Selma later wrote that because she lost her mother so early, she had a difficult childhood. This made her want to give others the "mother-love and love of human beings" that she had missed. This is why she chose to become a nurse.
In 1906, she began working as a nurse at the Salomon Heine Hospital in Hamburg. She learned on the job in different parts of the hospital. These included internal medicine, surgery, children's care, and helping with births. In 1913, she and another nurse passed the government's nursing tests. They were the first Jewish nurses to get a German State Diploma.
Becoming a Head Nurse
In 1890, a group from Frankfurt sent Dr. Moshe Wallach to Palestine. He was a German-Jewish doctor, and his job was to open a Jewish hospital in Jerusalem. In 1902, he opened Shaare Zedek Hospital. It was on Jaffa Road and was the first Jewish hospital in the New City of Jerusalem. Dr. Wallach started with two trained European nurses. But one left because of the "basic conditions" at the hospital back then. The other went back to Germany during World War I.
Dr. Wallach badly needed a head nurse. So, in 1916, during World War I, he went back to Europe. He was very impressed with how the Salomon Heine Hospital in Hamburg was run. He asked the head nurse there if she could spare one of her staff. Selma Mayer, who was 32 years old, was suggested. She agreed to work for three years in Palestine as part of her war service.
Schwester Selma traveled for four weeks by train. She went through Central Europe, Turkey, and Damascus. She arrived at Shaare Zedek in December 1916. A few weeks later, Jerusalem faced a year-long typhoid outbreak. Typhus and meningitis also spread quickly in the city.
Helping During Epidemics
The hospital had 40 beds but added 110 more to help all the sick people. The hospital hired untrained workers. Schwester Selma gave them "overalls and hoods" to keep them safe from getting sick. She also ordered that all new patients be washed and shaved completely. Schwester Selma also brought German nursing standards to the hospital. This meant white uniforms for all staff, changing uniforms and bed sheets every day, and daily bathing for all patients.
Working in Tough Conditions
Shaare Zedek worked hard to give good care to Jewish, Christian, and Arab patients. But it did not have electricity, indoor plumbing, central heating, or gas stoves for cooking. Kerosene heaters were used to warm bathwater. Paraffin lamps were used in the operating room. It was hard to keep staff because of the tough working conditions. Dr. Wallach was also very demanding and sometimes difficult. Still, Schwester Selma worked 18-hour days. She expected her nurses and helpers to work just as hard.
Training New Nurses
In those days, hospital nurses and midwives learned their skills on the job. Schwester Selma trained and watched over all the nurses, operating-room nurses, and midwives at the hospital. She taught nurses how to make a hospital bed. She taught midwives how to diaper and wrap newborn babies. Sometimes she also filled in for the midwives, who did not live at the hospital. For many years, Schwester Selma was Dr. Wallach's main assistant. She helped him with many medical procedures. She also went with him on house calls. She even took his place as hospital director when he was away. From 1916 to 1930, she was also in charge of supplies and keeping the building in good shape. She made sure the kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) in the kitchen met Dr. Wallach's strict rules.
In the patient wards, she created a caring and personal way of looking after patients. This approach is still used at the hospital today. She always reminded her students, "Those who come to us need help." She wrote in her memories, "Above all they should remember and never forget that one has to try everything when dealing with the patient to cause him as little pain as possible and to spare no effort."
Schwester Selma's contract said she could have a three-month vacation in Germany every three years. But she only took this vacation twice, in 1922 and 1925. In 1927, she was offered a job as head nurse at a Jewish hospital in Leipzig. She thought seriously about taking the offer. But the board of directors of Shaare Zedek convinced her to stay. They promised to "support her for the rest of her life."
Schwester Selma was the only operating-room nurse working during a difficult event in Hebron in 1929. A rescue team brought wounded people from Hebron to Shaare Zedek and Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem. Doctors from all over Jerusalem came to Shaare Zedek to operate on the wounded. Schwester Selma helped them for 23 hours without stopping.
In November 1947, a plan for Palestine was announced by the UN. Schwester Selma was on her yearly two-week holiday in Naharia. Right after the UN decision, a civil war started. This led to Jerusalem being surrounded by Arab forces. Schwester Selma wanted to go back to her hospital job. She spent three weeks asking British, Israeli, and even underground leaders for help. Finally, the army agreed to let her join one of its armed groups. These groups brought food and medicine to the surrounded city.
During Israel's polio outbreak in the early 1950s, Shaare Zedek was the only hospital in Jerusalem with a special isolation ward. Schwester Selma showed endless dedication to running the iron lung machines. She taught and guided the untrained people who were hired to work in the ward.
Founding a Nursing School
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In 1934, Schwester Selma started the Shaare Zedek Nursing School. Dr. Wallach first did not like the idea. He worried the school would focus too much on books and not enough on practical nursing. But Schwester Selma's teaching plan proved him wrong. Doctors from the British government hospital in Jerusalem gave the exams after the three-year course. Schwester Selma taught all the hands-on nursing classes in the school's early years. After she passed away, the school created the Schwester Selma Award. It is given each year to the best graduate.
Her Personal Story
Schwester Selma was a small person, less than 5 feet tall. She was known for her kindness and how careful she was. She chose a poem by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore as her personal motto. She kept it on the wall in her room:
- I slept and dreamt
- that life was joy.
- I awoke and saw
- that life was duty.
- I acted and behold,
- duty was joy.
A Life of Service
She never got married. Both she and Dr. Wallach, who also never married, lived in separate rooms at the hospital. She often welcomed staff and patients to her simple room for a chat. She would pour them cups of mint tea.
Caring for Children
Schwester Selma and Dr. Wallach adopted three girls who had been left at the hospital. One girl was Samoohah Calderon. Her mother had passed away, and her father had joined the Turkish army. The baby's grandparents asked them to keep the baby. The second girl, Bolissa, was given to them by her father. He had carried her all the way from Syria after her mother passed away on the journey. Sadly, Bolissa passed away in an event in 1948. The third girl was named Sarina. The girls grew up at the hospital and went to school. One of the girls became a nurse, and another became a dental technician.
Awards and Tributes
In 1974, when she was 90 years old, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek named Schwester Selma a "Worthy of Jerusalem." A Time magazine story on December 29, 1975, called her one of the world's "living saints." This list also included Mother Teresa. Many newspapers and magazines called her the "Jewish Florence Nightingale" because she spent so many years helping patients without thinking of herself.
Schwester Selma once received a diamond ring from a person who had survived a difficult time in history. This person's sister had given her the valuable ring before she was taken away. The sister said, "If I do not return, give it to a human being who has never married and has devoted her life to helping other people." When the survivor read about Schwester Selma in European newspapers, she gave the ring to her.
Later Years and Legacy
Schwester Selma kept working into her eighties. Even at that age, she did not think it was beneath her to pick up trash from the floors. She would remind her students that "there is nothing humiliating in our work." In 1973, while getting better after eye surgery, she wrote a short memory book. It was called "Mein Leben und Erlebnisse im Shaare Zedek Spital" ("My Life and Experiences at 'Shaare Zedek'").
When the hospital moved to a new and more modern building in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood in 1980, Schwester Selma moved with it. She passed away on Sunday, February 5, 1984. This was just two days after her hundredth birthday. A special event to honor her had been planned for that very day at the hospital.
