Operation Nightingale was an intensive effort by the United States Army Nurse Corps (ANC) to recruit nurses during the Vietnam War. The ANC had a shortage of nurses, and Operation Nightingale was aimed at recruiting 2,000 employees. It was not completely successful.
By early 1963 the United States Army Nurse Corps (ANC) was grappling with a shortage of nurses—it had only around 3,000 nurses. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962 army hospitals struggled to find enough nurses and in the decades prior the ANC had failed to grow in proportion with the size of the greater United States Army. [1]
Begun on February 28, 1963, the nationwide program sought to add 2,000 nurses. [2] At its peak, almost 150 people were working to sign up nurses. [3] Recruiters "lecturing at high schools, universities, and career fairs, placing advertisements in stores, making radio announcements and TV commercials, and at times enlisting celebrity endorsements." They said that “women would experience an equality with men that they would not find in the civilian world.” [4]
The operation included a 'Army Student Nurse Program', which offered to help a nurse pay for their education in return for service in the corps. The program accounted for most of the nurses who joined the ANC during the Vietnam War, and was utilized by around 600 nurses every year it was in operation. Other efforts to train nurses included through a four year degree offered through the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing (associated with the University of Maryland). While the ANC did gain some nurses through these efforts, they were hindered by the time it took to train students, often several years. The ANC never overcame a shortage of nurses during the Vietnam War. [5]
Jane Arminda Delano was a nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service.
The United States Navy Nurse Corps was officially established by Congress in 1908; however, unofficially, women had been working as nurses aboard Navy ships and in Navy hospitals for nearly 100 years. The Corps was all-female until 1965.
The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches. It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the medical care required by the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The AMEDD is led by the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, a lieutenant general.
Most professional militaries employ specialised military nurses or nursing sisters. They are often organised as a distinct nursing corps. Florence Nightingale formed the first nucleus of a recognised Nursing Service for the British Army during the Crimean War in 1854. In the same theatre of the same war, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna originated Russian traditions of recruiting and training military nurses – associated especially with besieged Sevastopol (1854–1855). Following the war Nightingale fought to institute the employment of women nurses in British military hospitals, and by 1860 she had succeeded in establishing an Army Training School for military nurses at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital in Netley, Hampshire, England.
Anna Mae Violet Hays was an American military officer who served as the 13th chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps. She was the first woman in the United States Armed Forces to be promoted to a general officer rank; in 1970, she was promoted to brigadier general. Hays paved the way for equal treatment of women, countered occupational sexism, and made a number of recommendations which were accepted into military policy.
United States (U.S.) Cadet Nurse Corps (CNC) was authorized by the U.S. Congress on 15 June 1943 and signed into law by president Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1 July. The purpose of the law was to alleviate the nursing shortage that existed before and during World War II. The legislative act contained a specific provision that prohibited discrimination based upon race, color, or creed. The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) was named the supervisory agency; it was answerable to Thomas Parran, Jr. the surgeon general of the United States. The USPHS established a separate division to administer the CNC program and Parran appointed Lucile Petry a registered nurse (RN) as its director.
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps is the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services.
The word "nurse" originally came from the Latin word "nutrire", meaning to suckle, referring to a wet-nurse; only in the late 16th century did it attain its modern meaning of a person who cares for the infirm.
The United States Army Nurse Corps (USANC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1901. It is one of the six medical special branches of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The ANC is the nursing service for the U.S. Army and provides nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense medical plans. The ANC is composed entirely of Registered Nurses (RNs) but also includes Nurse Practitioners.
Florence Aby Blanchfield was a United States Army Colonel and superintendent of the Army Nursing Corps, from 1943 to 1947. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945, and the Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Red Cross in 1951. In 1947 Blanchfield became the first woman to receive a military commission in the regular army.
Canadian women in the World Wars became indispensable because the World Wars were total wars that required the maximum effort of the civilian population. While Canadians were deeply divided on the issue of conscription for men, there was wide agreement that women had important new roles to play in the home, in civic life, in industry, in nursing, and even in military uniforms. Historians debate whether there was much long-term impact on the postwar roles of women.
Clara Leach Adams-Ender is a retired United States Army officer who served as Chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps from September 1987 to August 1991. She was the first woman to receive her master's degree in military arts and sciences from the United States Army Command and General Staff College. She is also the first African-American nurse corps officer to graduate from the United States Army War College. When she retired, in 1993, she was serving as commanding officer of Fort Belvoir, in Fairfax County, Virginia. After retirement, in 2001 she published a memoir: My Rise to the Stars: How a Sharecropper's Daughter Became an Army General.
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.
The history of nursing in the United States focuses on the professionalization of nursing since the Civil War.
Mildred Irene Clark Woodman was the twelfth chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps (1963–1967). She is credited with, during her tenure, playing a large role in the survival of the Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War. She has been inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
Colonel Margaret Harper was the 11th chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps (ANC) from September 1, 1959, to August 31, 1963. She served in World War II, received a master's degree in nursing service administration from Columbia University. She received several awards for her work as chief of the Army Nurse Corps (ANC).
Lucy Minnigerode was an American nurse in World War I, and founder of the United States Public Health Service Nursing Corps. She was the eighth American recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal, awarded by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1925.
Joan A. Furey is a United States Army nurse veteran. She began her military service in 1968 when she joined the Army Nurse Corps. Her patriotism influenced her volunteered deployment to Vietnam in 1969 where she served as a second lieutenant and eventually earned the Bronze Star. Her dedicated service continued when she returned home as Furey focused on aiding other returning Vietnam veterans. Her post-war accomplishments include earning her master's degree in nursing from New York University in 1975, pioneering studies in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through her service in the Department of Veteran Affairs, and her service as the Director of Center for Women Veterans.