DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING IN OHIO
By ANNE L. AUSTIN, R.N.
The Period of Unorganized
Development: Early Backgrounds
The early backgrounds of nursing history
in Ohio are in the
realm of the unknown. If one is to judge
how nursing was done
from the time of the Indian tribes to
that of the first records
one must assume that the history
followed a similar development
here as elsewhere.
It is known that the Eries, the
Shawnees, the Wyandots and
the Delawares were the chief tribes in
Ohio. These groups were
augmented by detached bands of
Indians--the Ottawas, the Iro-
quois, the Tuscarawas, and the Senecas.
A study of tribal prac-
tices with reference to the care of the
sick reveals that there were
three ways in which the care was
probably given. One was the
care of the aged and children, the
convalescent, and the mildly
and seriously ill between visits of the
medicine man. Another prob-
ably was the care of the wounded by the
fighting men in the
wars with hostile tribes. A third was the practice of the priest-
medicine man who, in connection with his
religious duties, cared
for cases of illness. It seems certain
that women were rarely
admitted to the religious ceremonies of
the tribe, and therefore
in this instance, the care of the sick
was in the hands of men.
In the family, however, the women
usually carried out the pro-
cedure.
In the early history of these tribes the
medicine man ap-
parently gave all the medical treatment.
As time went on, how-
ever, his duties became more complex and
there was a division
of labor, the medicine man himself
retaining the priestly and
strictly medical duties, while assigning
the actual care of the sick
person to a sub-caste of workers or
assistants. This may have
been the beginning of the nursing care,
as distinguished from the
medical care of the sick.
Following the coming of the white
settlers, a form of nursing
(351)
352
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
developed which may be called
"neighborhood nursing." The
settlers met many problems on their
journeys to the Northwest
Territory, and the women helped each
other in the care of their
families. When they found their homes in Ohio, this type of
service continued. Some of the women
gained considerable skill
in caring for minor as well as more
serious illnesses, and for
women in childbirth, and were called in
when there was an emer-
gency.
The conditions usually occurring were
the agues,1 cholera,2
the dysenteries, yellow fever and
typhoid fever.3 The water was
impure, there was much exposure and the
food was often in-
adequate. The flat lands were the
breeding places of mosquitoes,
medicines were scarce and doctors few,
and there was much for
the women to do.
The Period of Organized Development:
The First Hospitals
This period of unorganized development
seems to have lasted
at least until the building of the first
hospitals and probably for
some time after.
As far as can be determined, the first
hospital to be estab-
lished in Ohio was founded in 18154 in a
house in Cincinnati.
This later became the Commercial
Hospital and Lunatic Asylum
of Ohio and was chartered by the
legislature on January 22, 1821.5
It is now the Cincinnati General
Hospital. The nurses seem to
have been a type of servant nurse, women
who possessed some
practical ability in the care of the
sick.6
In other hospitals which were later
established the nursing
was done in much the same manner. One of
the earliest of these
was the Marine Hospital of Cleveland,
established in 1852.7 Here
care was given to the sailors from boats
on the Great Lakes. An-
other was Saint John's Hospital for the
Infirm, now the Good
1 Samuel Orth, A History of Cleveland (Chicago and Cleveland,
1910), I, 177.
2 E. W. Mitchell, "Yellow Fever in Cincinnati," Ohio State
Medical Journal
(Columbus, 1905- ), Feb., 1937, 184.
3 Paul M. Davis and Philip D. Jordan,
"The Health of Frontier Ohio," ibid.,
Dec., 1940, 1311.
4 Dudley W. Palmer, "The Cincinnati
General Hospital," ibid., April, 1939, 407.
5 The Cincinnati General Hospital, A
Short History (n. d., mimeographed).
6 Minnie A. Bohlman, answer to
questionnaire dated March 5, 1941.
7 Elroy McHerdree Avery, Cleveland
and Its Environs (Chicago and New York,
1918), I, 546.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 353
Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati, built
in the same year. The
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati did the
nursing here.8 The Jewish
Hospital of Cincinnati was founded in
1854, and has a similar
nursing history.9
During the Civil War several hospitals
were founded for the
care of veterans. The nurses were women
who found it neces-
sary to earn their living, or were
members of Protestant or Cath-
olic religious orders. At St. Vincent
Charity Hospital in Cleveland,
for example, the Sisters of Charity of
St. Augustine were the
nurses.10 In Miami Valley
Hospital in Dayton, the Protestant
deaconesses did the nursing. In many of
these early hospitals the
families and friends of the patients
were called into service as
nurses as well as those who were
convalescing from an illness.
At other times, girls from the local
community were admitted
for a course in "practical
nursing" and at the end of two or three
years were given a certificate. Among
those carrying out this
procedure were the Women's and
Children's Hospital of Toledo
where a fifteen months' course in
maternity nursing was given,11
the Hospital of Our Lady Help of
Christians of Cincinnati giv-
ing a two years' course to young
women,12 the Wilson Street, later
Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, where a
course was given by the
Matron, Eliza Mitchell, and where at one
period, a certificate was
given,13 and the Youngstown Hospital
Association, where work
for two years was rewarded by a
certificate.14
The Civil War gave impetus to nursing
along other lines.
Many women of real ability came to the
fore and did admirable
work. An Ohio woman, Sister Anthony
O'Connell, a member of
the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
nursed the northern soldiers,
and so much beloved was she and so
effective her work that she
was known as "The Angel of the
Battlefield." Others of the
same order gave splendid service at this
time.
8 Sister De Chantal, answer to
questionnaire dated March 24, 1941.
9 Mary H. Cutler, answer to
questionnaire dated March 17, 1941.
10 Sister M. Carmella, answer to questionnaire dated Jan. 31, 1941.
11 Lenore B. Young, answer to
questionnaire dated Feb. 26, 1941.
12
Sister Amabilis, answer to questionnaire dated Feb. 6, 1941.
13 Margene O. Faddis, Nursing and
Nursing Education in a Changing Urban
Community (Cleveland, 1936), 30.
14 Youngstown Hospital School of
Nursing, answer to questionnaire dated Feb.
14, 1941.
354
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Organized Community Nursing: Nursing
under Private Auspices
The first organized nursing in the homes
of the community
was undoubtedly done by women who
themselves, with missionary
zeal, visited the sick in their
immediate communities, and who
later employed nurses to work with them.
Perhaps there were
such groups caring for the sick in Ohio,
but if so, history seems
thus far to be silent about them. The
first recorded report of a
public health nurse, or district nurse
as she was then called, of
whom the writer has been able to secure
information was the
nurse sent out in 1881 by the Maternity
Society of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of Cincinnati. The plan
provided the "services
of a physician and a nurse to give aid
and comfort to destitute
women in child-bed, regardless of
creed."15 Aid was limited to
those needing it, and consisted of
giving nursing care and furnish-
ing needed supplies for the mother and
the baby.
The first known visiting nurse
association in Ohio was estab-
lished in Columbus in 1898. It was
called the Instructive District
Nursing Association,16 and its purpose was "to give nursing care
to the sick in their homes and to teach
health."17 The nursing
staff was small.
Other early visiting nurse associations
were the Toledo Dis-
trict Nursing Association established in
190018 by the King's
Daughters, and the Visiting Nurse
Association of Cleveland estab-
lished in 1902 by a group of interested women known as "The
Baker's Dozen." This group began
its work with "a staff of
four nurses, one superintendent, and
three assistants in the dis-
tricts."19 The work consisted of
care of the sick in their homes
and neighborhood classes in simple home
care. This eventually
branched out into many community
activities in which the serv-
ices of nurses were needed, namely
tuberculosis nursing, school
nursing, control of communicable
diseases, infant welfare, and
health education.
From these small but significant
beginnings, this type of serv-
15 Yssabelle Waters, Visiting
Nursing in the United States (New York, 1919),
239-40.
16 Ibid., 246.
17 Jane L. Tuttle, answer to
questionnaire dated March 21, 1941.
18 Waters, Visiting Nursing, 242.
19 Ibid., 248.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 355
ice has grown slowly until at present
there are twelve visiting
nurse associations in Ohio, with two
hundred and thirty-five
nurses on their staffs giving nursing
care to patients in their
homes, as well as approximately
forty-five nurses employed by
the Metropolitan and John Hancock Life
Insurance companies to
give nursing care to their policy
holders, fifteen Red Cross nurses,
and approximately fifty other nurses
employed by private agencies
to nurse the sick in their homes in
various cities and counties of
Ohio.
This briefly is the history of nursing under private
auspices.
Nursing under Public Auspices
The early years saw the growth of public
consciousness in
Ohio in relation to the care of the sick
and the preservation of
health. Probably the first nurses to go
into Ohio homes under
public auspices were two nurses sent out
by the Tuberculosis Dis-
pensary of the Department of Health of
Cincinnati in 1907.20
Cleveland followed in 1910 by
establishing a Bureau of Tuber-
culosis, whereby the city took over the
entire problem and con-
tinued the work started by Elizabeth
Upjohn, a nurse on the staff
of the Cleveland Visiting Association,
and by a dispensary func-
tioning under the auspices of this group
and those of the Medical
College of Western Reserve University.21
In 1908, the Board of Health of
Cleveland established a nurs-
ing service in which were employed two
nurses to assist the physi-
cians in the school dispensaries and to
visit in the homes to aid
in carrying out the physicians'
instructions. Two others helped
to control communicable diseases in the
city.22 In 1909, the Tuber-
culosis Dispensary of the Department of
Health of Cincinnati
established a nursing service to care
for tuberculous patients. The
nurses taught the patients and
supervised home conditions.23
In 1913 the State Department of Health
secured legislation
providing for a Bureau of Public Health
Nursing in the Division
20 Ibid., 240.
21 Annie M. Brainard, The Evolution
of Public Health Nursing (Philadelphia,
1922), 279-80.
22 Irene M. Bower, Public
Health Nursing in Cleveland, 1895-1928 (Cleveland,
1930), 40.
23 Jane L. Tuttle, "The History of Public Health Nursing
in Ohio," Ohio Nurses
Review (Columbus, 1925- ), July, 1929, 12.
356
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
of Public Health Education. Ohio was the
first state to create
such a bureau. This bureau served to
stimulate interest through-
out the State in public health nursing
activities, and to assist local
communities to plan programs which would
meet their needs. The
Bureau of Public Health Nursing became a
Division of the State
Department of Health in 1923.24
From these early beginnings the work of
nurses in official
agencies has grown until in 1941 there are in Ohio, six nurses in
the Nursing Division of the State
Department of Health, ten
nurses in the State Department of
Welfare, two nurses in the
Division of Public Assistance, and five
nurses in the State Com-
mission for the Blind. There are
approximately 218 County
Health Board nurses, one county Board of
Education nurse, 110
city Board of Health nurses, and ten
city Board of Education
nurses in Ohio today.25
Other Efforts
Other early efforts to utilize the
services of nurses in the
homes were made by the Christ Hospital
of Cincinnati, in 1890,
the Deaconess Home of Cleveland in 1895,
the Dayton Flower and
Fruit Mission in 1903, the Union
Bethel Settlement of Cincinnati
and the Baldwin Memorial Kindergarten of
Youngstown in 1904,
the Children's Aid Society of Canton in
1905,
the Columbus
Society for the Prevention and Cure of
Tuberculosis and Infant
Welfare Clinics of Cleveland in 1906,
the Thalian Tuberculosis
Dispensary of Toledo in 1907, and the
University Settlement
Association of Cincinnati in 1909. Nurses were
employed by the
National Cash Register Company of Dayton
as early as 19O1, to
give first aid to employees and by the
Cleveland Hardware Com-
pany in 1907.26 The Babies' Dispensary
and the Children's Fresh
Air Camp of Cleveland had nurses on
their staffs to visit patients
in their homes as far back as 1906. The
latter work was under
the direction of Dr. H. L. Gerstenberger
and Harriet L. Leete.27
Nursing under the auspices of the Red
Cross was ac-
24 Ibid.
25 Ohio Department of Health, Roster of Public Health Nurses in
Ohio (1941,
mimeographed).
26 Waters, Visiting
Nursing, 244.
27 Brainard, Public Health
Nursing, 286.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858
357
complished early in cooperation with the
Ohio State Nurses Asso-
ciation. This group, organized in 1904,
made itself responsible
for the enrollment of Red Cross nurses
in 1907,
cooperating with
the Ohio Red Cross Local Committees.28
Nurses were called
into service in many ways, but chiefly
in such emergencies as the
Ohio Flood in 1913. During the first
forty-eight hours follow-
ing the flood, which occurred on March
25, seventy-seven nurses
were assigned to duty by the Cincinnati
Local Committee. Nurses
also came from Cleveland and Akron and
other cities, and were
assigned to "nursing relief work in
several cities along the Ohio
River."29 The work consisted of
caring for the sick, inspecting
plumbing, and superintending all sorts
of activities. It was through
the prompt action of Annie Laws, and the
cooperation of Mary
Greenwood, Mary Gladwin, Jane Tuttle,
Abbie Roberts and other
nurses from Ohio and other states that
the relief work was car-
ried to a successful conclusion.
The Growth of Education of Nurses
The Civil War demonstrated the fact that
there was need
for nurses with preparation for their
work. The first school of
nursing in the country, founded as a
result of this, was the Belle-
vue School of Nursing in New York. This
school was followed
in rapid succession by other schools in
various states.
The question of first efforts in any
field is always an inter-
esting one. From the standpoint of
developments in the field of
nursing it is of great interest to
realize that there were groups of
people in the State who early realized
the importance of establish-
ing schools where young women could be
educated for the care
of the sick. As nearly as can be
determined this occurred first
with the establishment of the School of
Nursing at the Cleveland
Homeopathic, now the Huron Road
Hospital, in 1884.30
Thus far it has been impossible to
determine the aims of this
school.
The aims of another of the early schools of nursing
established in Ohio, the Lakeside
School, are here given:
28 Lavinia L. Dock and others, History
of American Red Cross
Nursing (New
York, 1922), 86.
29 Ibid.,
133.
30 Cora M. Templeton, "Pioneer Hospital Nursing,"
Academy of Medicine of
Cleveland, Bulletin (Cleveland,
1920-), Oct., 1932, 90.
358
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
First--That patients entering the
hospital for medical treatment should
be provided with nursing of the highest
order.
Second--That young women wishing to
enter the nursing profession
should be given every opportunity
successfully to fit themselves for their
chosen work.
Third--That the demand for graduate
nurses of high standing to care
for the sick of the city and surrounding
country should be satisfactorily
supplied.31
To carry out these aims, instruction was
given in the class-
room and in the wards of the hospital.
Classes were few and
practice was realistic. In addition to
the students, there was a
graduate nurse staff which augmented
their work on the wards.
These graduates, though few, were of
great assistance not only
in caring for the patients but also in
making it possible to carry
out an educational program.
Other schools of nursing were soon
established. In the same
decade came schools at the Christ Hospital
and the Cincinnati
General Hospital in Cincinnati, other
hospital schools following
later. At present there are sixty-seven
accredited schools in the
State, with a total enrollment in
1939-40, of four thousand five
hundred students.
The university education of the nurse
began in Ohio in 1916
when the School of Nursing and Health of
Cincinnati was made
a part of the University of Cincinnati.
This step was taken in
recognition of the need for more
adequate professional education
of nurses. The school began offering
courses for graduate nurses
in 1938.32
An event of importance in better
education of nurses in Ohio
was the establishment of the Department
of Nursing Education
of Flora Stone Mather College of Western
Reserve University,
cooperating with Lakeside Hospital of
Cleveland in 1921. This
provided a five-year program in nursing
as well as courses for
graduate nurses. It made possible a
broadening of the education
of the students. It provided the resources of a university
for
nursing education and made possible a
better faculty, a better-
31 Lakeside Hospital, Thirty-second
Annual Report, 1892, quoted in Faddis, Nursing
and Nursing Education, 38.
32 Cincinnati University, Bulletin, April
15, 1940, 13.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 359
prepared student body, and a better
program for the education of
the nurse for a constantly widening
field of service. This school
became one of the graduate professional
schools of the university
in 1934.33 In this period the School of
Nursing at Ohio State
University was established, but was
discontinued in 1939. In 1926
the School of Nursing of the Good
Samaritan Hospital of Cin-
cinnati became affiliated with the
College of Mt. St. Joseph on
the Ohio.
The modern school of nursing gives a
program which is de-
signed to prepare the nurse for the
therapeutic care of the sick,
as well as for health conservation, the
nursing of the mind as
well as the body, for health education
and health service to
families and communities, as well as to
individuals.
In connection with hospital nursing and
nursing education,
the history of student uniforms and
school emblems is an inter-
esting study. One finds that student
uniforms were usually the
traditional blue, with an occasional
school favoring pink. There
was always a white cap, apron, and
cuffs. Today one occasionally
finds a white student uniform but one
regrets the passing of the
blue-clad nurse with her starched apron,
desirable as it may be to
have a more practical uniform. The
school emblem has a fas-
cinating variety of shapes. It is
interesting to see how often the
religious impulse, ever present in
nursing, is expressed in the use
of the cross on the school pin. Ohio
schools have followed this
tradition.
The Growth of Associations
Growth of professionalism in nursing is
indicated by the
establishment of professional
organizations. In Ohio this began
with alumnae associations, small, local
organizations established to
promote the interests of individual
schools. The first alumnae
association to be organized in Ohio, as
far as can be determined,
was founded in 1893 at the Jewish
Hospital School of Nursing
of Cincinnati. Other schools have since
formed alumnae associa-
tions.
The next step was the founding of the
Ohio State Associa-
tion of Graduate Nurses, now the Ohio
State Nurses Associa-
33 Western Reserve University, Bulletin,
May 15, 1940, 26.
360
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
tion. This occurred in 1904 and its
purpose was to secure legis-
lation which would advance the care of
the sick and improve
conditions in nursing. Twenty-seven Ohio
nurses were charter
members and Mary Hamer Greenwood of
Cincinnati was the first
president. The organization became a
member of the American
Nurses Association in 1906.34
The State association established
headquarters in Columbus in 1917. Anna
Gladwin was the first
full-time general secretary, and
organized the State Nurses Asso-
ciation into districts. At present the
association has sixteen dis-
tricts. Nine of these conduct Nursing
Bureaus to supply gradu-
ate professional nurses to the
community. The present member-
ship is approximately eleven thousand.
Among the activities of this association
have been the crea-
tion of the Florence Nightingale
Scholarship Loan Fund to im-
prove the quality of education of
nurses, and the Ohio Emergency
Fund, established in 1923, to assist
sick and disabled nurses.35
In 1912 the Ohio Public Health
Nursing Organization was
formed. This functioned for about two
years and then became
the Section on Public Health Nursing of
the Ohio State Nurses
Association.36
The Ohio State League of Nursing
Education was founded
in 1915. It was designed to further the
interests of the educa-
tion of nurses in the State. It
functioned as a separate group
until 1923, when it became the Section
on Education of the State
association. In 1938 a State league was
again formed. The pres-
ent membership is about four hundred.
This organization func-
tions locally in three parts of the
State--Cleveland, Cincinnati, and
Columbus. The Ohio State League of
Nursing Education is a
part of the National League of Nursing
Education.
The relation of Ohio nurses to the early
history of the Organ-
ization for Public Health Nursing is one
of the interesting chap-
ters of Ohio nursing history. In the
early days of the Cleveland
Visiting Nurse Association the Advisory
Board recognized the
need for a symbol of the work of the
visiting nurse. In 1909 a
34 "Thirty-five Years of Nursing
Progress in Ohio, 1904-1938." Ohio Nurses
Review, April, 1938, 73.
35 Ibid., 73-4.
36 Ibid., 72.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 361
design interpreting the spirit of the
visiting nurse was made, a
figure of a woman planting a tree, with
the inscription "when the
desire cometh it is the tree of
life." In the corner is a small
lamp representing the spirit of Florence
Nightingale.37 When the
National Organization for Public Health
Nursing was founded
in 1912,
the Cleveland group presented its emblem
to the new
association, and it is now used as the
symbol of that organization.
The Rise of Legislative Regulation in
Ohio
Professional development in nursing in
Ohio has been marked
by successful passage of a law
controlling the education and
practice of nursing. The chief purpose
of the formation of the
Ohio State Nurses Association in 1904
was the passage of such
a law. Work on this was begun at that
time and several attempts
were made from that time until 1915,
when the matter was brought
to a satisfactory conclusion by the
passage of a nurse practice act.
This act provided for a Nurse Examining
Committee in the Ohio
State Medical Board, and controlled the
curricula of the schools
of the State, as well as the practice of
graduate nurses. It pro-
vided that at least 331 hours of
instruction should be given.38
This act has since been amended
twice--in 1919 and in 1923.
Anza Johnson of Springfield was the
first chief examiner. The
present curriculum required is 825 hours
of class work and ex-
perience in the four so-called basic
services: medicine, surgery,
pediatrics, and obstetrics.
The Establishment of a Nursing
Literature in Ohio
The growth of professional literature in
Ohio has kept pace
with that of the country as a whole. One
phase of this has been
the establishment of nursing magazines.
The earliest one in the
State was the Visiting Nurse
Quarterly of Cleveland, first pub-
lished in 1909. This was designed for
local circulation but soon
became well known outside Cleveland.
There was no publica-
tion of national scope in this field and
the circulation of this
magazine began to extend widely. Later
the Visiting Nurse
37 Bower, Public Health Nursing, 37-8.
38 Clara F. Brouse, letter dated Dec. 5, 1940.
362
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Quarterly became a national publication. When the National Or-
ganization for Public Health Nursing was
organized in 1912, it
took over the journal,39
now known as Public Health Nursing
(New York).
The Quarterly Bulletin (Columbus,
1925- ) of the Ohio
State Nurses Association was published
for the first time in
1925. One number only was issued in 1926. The name was
changed later to the Ohio Nurses
Review. Publication continues
to be quarterly.
Since the early period Ohio nurses have
written many articles
on nursing for professional magazines,
notably the American
Journal of Nursing (Rochester, N. Y., 1900- ), Public Health
Nursing (New York, 1913- ), the Ohio Nurses Review (Colum-
bus, 1925- ), the Trained Nurse and
Hospital Review (New
York, 1888- ), and the Bulletin of
the Academy of Medicine
of Cleveland (Cleveland, 1920- ). Mary
Roberts, a graduate of
Jewish Hospital School of Nursing,
Cincinnati, has for many years
been the editor of the American
Journal of Nursing, the official
organ of the American Nurses
Association.
The literary contributions of Mrs. O. P.
Coe, a graduate of
the School of Nursing and Health of the
University of Cincin-
nati in 1902 have appeared in
many anthologies. Mrs. Coe is the
author of Loom of Life, and is a
member of the Empire Poetry
League of London.40 Gladys
Sellew, another graduate of this
school, is the author of several books
on the nursing care of
children. Katharine Volk, a graduate of
Lakeside Hospital School
of Nursing, Cleveland, has written a
book on her war experiences,
called Buddies in Budapest. These
and other books represent the
development of this phase of Ohio
nursing.
The Ohio Nurse and War Nursing
The participation of Ohio nurses in wars
in which our coun-
try has been involved forms another
interesting chapter of nurs-
ing history. At the time of the Civil
War, there were no "trained"
nurses. Many Ohio women volunteered
their services, however,
39 Bower, Public Health Nursing, 40.
40 Bohlman, answer to questionnaire
dated March 5, 1941.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 363
and cared for the sick and wounded.
Notable among these women
were the Sisters of Charity of
Cincinnati.41
When the Spanish-American War occurred
graduate nurses
were available. Several Ohio nurses
volunteered to aid the Gov-
ernment in caring for the victims of the
war in the southern
part of our country and in Cuba. A large
number of them were
graduates of the School of Nursing and
Health at the University
of Cincinnati.42
When the World War in 1914 necessitated
a call for nurses,
many from all parts of the United States
answered. Among them
were several from Ohio. When late in
1914, Dr. George W. Crile
planned a ward and operating room for
the American Ambulance
Hospital in Paris, in the name of
Lakeside Hospital of Cleveland,
many nurses responded to his request for
volunteers.
Later Dr. Crile made plans for the
establishment of a base
hospital composed of personnel who had
had similar education in
nursing and who knew each other well.
The Lakeside Base
Hospital Unit was the outcome. This
became United States Base
Hospital No. 4. It was the first Base
Hospital Unit to be sent
overseas and was made up of twenty-six
officers, fifty nurses and
other personnel for various duties. The
necessary funds for
equipping the hospital were raised by
the Cuyahoga Chapter of
the American Red Cross. On May 6, 1917,
the Base Hospital
with Miss Grace Allison, a graduate of
the Lakeside School of
Nursing, Cleveland, as chief nurse, left
for overseas. The group
was assigned for duty to No. 9 General
Hospital, British Expedi-
tionary Forces, in Rouen. In the fall
seventeen more nurses came
from Ohio to augment the staff. The
active service of this Unit
came to an end on January 23, 1919.43
Many other Ohio nurses served in the
Army and the Navy
in this country and in France during the
war. Grace Phelps, a
graduate of the University of Cincinnati
School of Nursing and
Health, was chief nurse of Base Hospital
No. 46. Many Youngs-
town Hospital Association nurses were
members of Base Hospital
No. 31.
41 See p. 353.
42 Bohlman,
answer to questionnaire dated March 5, 1941.
43 Faddis, Nursing and Nursing
Education, 94-103.
364
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Another phase of war nursing was the
establishment of the
Vassar Training Camp. This was planned
to help meet the need
for nurses arising out of the first
world war, and was a coopera-
tive project of Vassar College, the
Committee on Nursing of the
Council of National Defense, the
American Red Cross, and the
National League of Nursing Education.44
The course was planned
to attract college women to the field of
nursing. Fifty-three Ohio
women were among its students.45
They were given a preliminary
course including the biological and
physical sciences, the social
sciences, and nursing. Many of the group
went into Ohio schools
of nursing, the Lakeside School of
Nursing and the University of
Cincinnati School of Nursing and Health,
to finish their nursing
course, and are now in responsible
nursing positions in Ohio and
other states.
The Ohio Nurse and the Community
The study of the development of nursing
in Ohio, thus re-
veals many changing relationships. One
of the most interesting
is that of the nurse to other
professional groups, doctors, social
workers, and dietitians, to mention the
most important. Research
shows that the early nurse was chiefly
responsible for the thera-
peutic care of the sick, as the
assistant of the physician. As the
field of health developed and social
life broadened, the nurse con-
tinued to serve as a community worker,
skilled in the care of the
ill person. In addition she has
developed other important func-
tions, such as the prevention of disease
and the preservation of
health. The Ohio nurse is represented
not only in many local
efforts along these lines, but also in
State, national, and interna-
tional relations. Ohio nurses are
participating in the work of the
American Nurses Association, an
organization concerned with bet-
ter community nursing for the public,
and the problems of the
professional nurse, the National League
of Nursing Education,
engaged in educational work in both the
basic and the advanced
professional fields, the National
Organization for Public Health
Nursing, enlisted in the improvement of
nursing in the homes of
the community, the Association of
Collegiate Schools of Nursing,
44 Ibid., 109-11.
45 American Journal of Nursing (Rochester, N. Y., 1900- ), Sept., 1918, 1155.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858
365
interested in promoting the affiliation
of schools of nursing with
colleges and universities to the end
that the public may be better
served, and the International Council of
Nurses, an organization
devoted to the promotion of better
nursing in all countries. They
are also engaged in the work of other
organizations such as the
American Public Health Association and
the American Hospital
Association of which the Ohio Hospital
Association is a part. At
present many are serving with the Army
and Navy in the programs
for national defense. Several have gone
to other countries as
missionary nurses. Here they have cared
for native patients and
have established schools of nursing for
native women.
Inquiry into the history of nursing in
the State opens many
interesting possibilities for a more
exhaustive study and provides
a motive for further research in this
field. It is the hope of the
writer that the search may yield still
further data which will add
to an historical nursing literature in
Ohio.