‘Blood, Guts and Glory’ to reveal life of a nurse during Civil War

What was it like to be a nurse during the Civil War? What horrors did nurses see? How did they deal with stress? What kinds of medicines and medical equipment were available?

The Tulsa Community College Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration presents “Blood, Guts and Glory: Nursing and Medicine in the Civil War” at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Center for Creativity at the TCC Metro Campus. Karen Vuranch will portray Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse and the founder of American Red Cross.

Vuranch will do a repeat performance at 9 a.m. Feb. 17 in the large auditorium at the TCC Northeast Campus. TCC nursing faculty will follow Vuranch with a readers theatre performance of “Nursing Voices from the Civil War” at 10:30.

The presentation continues at 12:15 with Vuranch performing “Is War the Mother of Invention?” and Jason Harris performing “The Civil War Surgeon” at 1:30.

The day’s events conclude at 2:30 with a panel discussion on nursing and medicine in the Civil War era.

The presentations are funded by a TCC Faculty Innovation Grant, and are free and open to the public.