M. Helena McMillan (1869 January 28 1970) was a Canadian-American nursing educator. [1] She founded the Presbyterian Hospital School for Nurses in Chicago and remained its director for 35 years. [2] In 1907, she played an important role in the passage of the Illinois's first Nurse Practice Act. [3]
M. Helena McMillan was born in 1869 in Montreal, Canada. She completed her higher education from the McGill University. She later enrolled at the Illinois Training School for Nursing where she graduated in 1894. [3]
In 1898, she organized the Lakeside Hospital School of Nursing in Cleveland, Ohio, which later became a part of Western Reserve University. [4] In 1903, she returned to Chicago and founded the Presbyterian Hospital School for Nurses which was affiliated with Rush Medical College (RMC). [3] [4]
In 1899, she became the member of International Council of Nurses. [3] She served as the president of the Illinois State Association of Graduate Nurses. She held important administrative responsibilities at the National League for Nursing Education including the office of its secretary, treasurer, vice president, and member of the Board. [4] She was also associated with American Nurses Association. [5]
She died on January 28, 1970, in Boulder, Colorado, United States.
Mary Ann Bickerdyke, also known as Mother Bickerdyke, was a hospital administrator for Union soldiers during the American Civil War and a lifelong advocate for veterans. She was responsible for establishing 300 field hospitals during the war and served as a lawyer assisting veterans and their families with obtaining pensions after the war.
Mary Ashton Livermore was an American journalist, abolitionist, and advocate of women's rights. Her printed volumes included: Thirty Years Too Late, first published in 1847 as a prize temperance tale, and republished in 1878; Pen Pictures; or, Sketches from Domestic Life; What Shall We Do with Our Daughters? Superfluous Women, and Other Lectures; and My Story of the War. A Woman's Narrative of Four Years' Personal Experience as Nurse in the Union Army, and in Relief Work at Home, in Hospitals, Camps and at the Front during the War of the Rebellion. She wrote a sketch of the sculptor Anne Whitney for Women of the Day and delivered the historical address for the Centennial Celebration of the First Settlement of the Northwestern States in Marietta, Ohio on July 15, 1788.
Rush University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois. The university, founded in 1972, is the academic arm of Rush University Medical Center.
The history of nursing in the United Kingdom relates to the development of the profession since the 1850s. The history of nursing itself dates back to ancient history, when the sick were cared for in temples and places of worship. In the early Christian era, nursing in the United Kingdom was undertaken by certain women in the Christian Church, their services being extended to patients in their homes. These women had no real training by today's standards, but experience taught them valuable skills, especially in the use of herbs and folk drugs, and some gained fame as the physicians of their era. Remnants of the religious nature of nurses remains in Britain today, especially with the retention of the job title "Sister" for a senior female nurse.
Alma E. Foerster (1885–1967) was an American nurse who worked in both civilian and military care. She began her career as a public health nurse in Chicago and during the First World War helped establish hospitals in Kiev, for which she received the Cross of Saint Anna. She worked in Romania, receiving the Order of the Cross of Queen Marie for her service, before being sent on a humanitarian mission to Archangel, Russia. As one of only two American Red Cross nurses in Archangel, she provided assistance at the military surgical hospital, while the other nurse assisted with civilian nursing. She was one of the inaugural recipients of the Florence Nightingale Medal in 1920. After her return to the United States, she worked in the United States Public Health Service as a nurse, instructor and director of nursing in Chicago, Mobile, Ann Arbor and Racine, before returning to Chicago where she ended her career.
Emma Ann Reynolds (1862-1917) was an African-American teacher, who had a desire to address the health needs of her community. Refused entrance to nurses training schools because of racism, she influenced the creation of Provident Hospital in Chicago and was one of its first four nursing graduates. Continuing her education, Reynolds became a medical doctor serving at posts in Texas, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. before permanently settling in Ohio and completing her practice there.
Louie Croft Boyd was an American nurse, hospital superintendent of nurses, nursing instructor, and writer. As a lobbyist for the newly formed Colorado State Trained Nurses Association, she advocated for legislation to regulate the licensing of nurses in Colorado. Upon passage of the bill in 1905, she applied for and became the first licensed nurse in the state. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Nurses Association Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.
Eleanor Chesnut, sometimes written as Eleanor Chestnut, was an American Christian medical missionary and translator who worked in China from 1894 until her murder in 1905.
Helen Scott Hay was an American Red Cross nurse and nursing educator, working in Kiev and Sofia during World War I. She was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Red Cross Society for her contributions.
Carrie E. Bullock was an American nurse. She served as the president of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) and founded their official newsletter.
Elizabeth June Werner was an American nursing executive and educator. She was chair of the department of nursing for 19 years at Evanston Hospital, Illinois, and retired in 1990 as chairperson emerita. During this period she launched the nation's first primary nursing model, transforming the relationship between patients and their caregivers. She also formalized mentoring and professionalized the nursing staff.
Katharine Jane Densford (1890–1978) was an American nurse who made important contributions to nursing education and to nursing services during World War II. Densford was Director of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, serving in that position from 1930 to 1959. Densford’s leadership of Minnesota’s flagship school of nursing, located in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area provided the model for nursing education throughout the state and nation. Her pragmatic leadership during World War II made a significant contribution to the United States war effort.
Harriet Newton Phillips (1819-1901) was an early trained nurse in America, working during and after the Civil War.
Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom was an American nurse and midwife reformer. In 1913, she became the first American nurse to become a licensed midwife. She made pioneering contributions in preventing childhood blindness. Van Blarcom also played instrumental role in establishing a school for midwives, and extensively contributed in reforming some of the important health institutions in America including the Maryland State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis.
Bessie Bradwell Helmer was an American lawyer, editor and publisher. She edited the Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois. She was associated with the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Edna Lois Foley was an American nurse. She served as a chief nurse of the American Red Cross Tuberculosis Commission for Italy in 1919. In 1914, she prepared the Visiting Nurse Manual. She advocated the need for more opportunities for African-American nurses.
Elinor D. Gregg, also known as, Elinor Delight Gregg, Nurse Cross Red, was an American public nurse. She was one of the pioneers of industrial nursing. She established the public health nursing division in the American Bureau of Indian Affairs. She played an important role in taking public health nursing to the Native Americans.
Sara Elizabeth Parsons was an American nurse, writer and health administrator. She established nurse training schools in hospitals and asylums, and worked for the advancement of psychiatric nursing. She advocated the importance of giving autonomy for nurses, and sought public support for nursing education. She was the president of National League for Nursing Exam in 1916. In 1996, she was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.
Mary Opal Wolanin was an American nurse and expert in eldercare. She was one of the pioneers of gerontological nursing in the United States and conducted research on long-term care for the elderly, which “made her nationally known.” During her tenure at the University of Arizona School of Nursing, she started a graduate program in gerontological nursing, the first of its kind in the United States. She also worked for the care of Native Americans affected with tuberculosis. In 1996, she became the first Arizona nurse, who was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.
Dorothy E. Reilly was an American nurse who was “one of leading nursing educators at the time”. She played an instrumental role in the development of nursing education in the United States and Canada. She was involved in developing the nursing curriculum and preparation of nursing teachers. In 1998, she was inducted into American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.