In 1901 , on receiving her diploma , de Bourgoing joined the Société de Secours aux Blessés Militaires ( SSBM ) , forerunner of the French Red Cross , as a volunteer and began working at the Beaujon Hospital in Paris . As a result of her competence and the understanding she showed both patients and doctors , she was appointed president of the SSBM . In 1907 , she sailed for Morocco with the French expeditionary force under General Antoine Marius Benoît Drude . As head of a team of SSBM volunteers , she established an infirmary in Casablanca , treating the wounded in the conflicts between the French and Moroccans . As conditions were difficult in Morocco , it was decided the wounded and seriously ill should be transported to Oran in Algeria where it would be easier to provide proper treatment . It was in October 1907 while she and two of her nurses were accompanying the wounded on a French naval crossing to Oran , that she first met General Hubert Lyautey , who was division commander there . After spending fifteen months in North Africa , she returned to France , only to leave shortly afterwards for the Italian port Messina in December where she and her nursing team helped care for the 80,000 victims of the 1908 earthquake . As a result of their exemplary services , they were decorated by Princess Hélène of Orléans
1908 earthquake
1908 Messina earthquake
Inès de Bourgoing