As you can learn from "The Crucible" Rebecca nurse is a professional so, she has the power of knowledge necessary to understand medical issues. Apart from that, she has the power of communicating with relatives. She is able to deal with stressful situations and emphatize with people.
The statement 'The West Riding men are sleuth-hounds in pursuit of money' means that the riders from the west (or in layman's term, cowboys) are only interested gaining wealth or money. They are money-hungry people who'd find ways to make themselves as rich as possible.
