Inspiration for Activism!

• Volunteered as a nurse in World War I.
• Served as public health nurse in Washington DC during an influenza
  

  Mary Breckinridge

  epidemic in 1916.

• Volunteered in France from 1918-1921, providing disaster relief and organizing a Child-Hygiene and Visiting-Nurse Association.
• Completed postgraduate studies at Columbia University in 1922-23 to learn the latest in public health, then completed her midwifery certificate in 1924 at the British Hospital for Mothers and Babies in the Woolwich district of London.
• Founded the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies in Leslie County in 1925, which became the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in 1928. The FNS is widely recognized as the first modern comprehensive health care system in the United States.
• Credited with developing approaches to modern nursing services in rural communities.
• Promoted the growth of district nursing centers and hospital facilities in southeastern Kentucky as a model for similar systems nationwide.
• Honored on a stamp issued by the United States in 1998

More information here, and here, and here,  and here.

See first comprehensive biography published in 2015: Mary Breckinridge by Melanie Beals Goan

Inspiration for activism!

• Inspired to become a nurse at the age of 15 by her mother – a prominent nurse and educator in Egypt who established graduate programs for nurses in the Middle East.
• Strong voice advocating for women and women’s rights world-wide.
  

  Afaf Meleis

• Author of transition theory, which has been used as a basis for research world-wide, and as a basis approaches to care to assure health and well-being in health and illness experiences (examples: immigration transition, the transition of caregivers, transition to motherhood, menopausal transition).
• Mentor to a long list of students and colleagues for over 40 years, providing support, encouragement and substantive guidance to nurses worldwide.
• Created research teams consisting of nurses throughout the world which offer support and development of international nursing research.
• Continues to provide consultation worldwide, focusing on the crucial roles of nurses and women as leaders in the development of comprehensive healthcare and quality nursing education programs.

More information:

• Blog
• Webpage
• Transitions Page
• Afaf Meleis brief bio

Inspiration for activism! 

• Nurse who filed a complaint against the Pittsburgh Press for posting of classified ads
  

  Wilma Scott Heide, 1985

  by gender, claiming this practice discriminated against women, which resulted in a city ordinance banning the practice; the ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme court in 1973.

• Staged a protest in the US Senate in 1970, resulting in finally bringing out of committee the US Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the constitution.
• Third President of the National Organization for Women (1971-1974); insisted on recognition and inclusion of lesbians in the organization.
• Worked closely with the leadership of the American Nurses Association to advance nurses economic and general welfare; led in the ANA decision, in 1971, to support the Equal Rights Amendment (reversing their staunch public opposition).
• Wrote one of the first articles on feminism published in the nursing literature: Heide, W. S. (1973). Nursing and women’s liberation–a parallel. The American Journal of Nursing, 73(5), 824–827.
• Crossed the country in an “ERAmobile” in the summer of 1976, portraying the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
• Wrote the Introduction to Jo Ann Ashley’s landmark book “Hospitals, Paternalism and the Role of the Nurse,” stating that: “It is not that nurses have done so little in spite of institutional oppression, what surely much be recognized is that nurses have done a great deal . . . . Feminist nurses invite and welcome other health care practitioners to create the kind of world where the power of love exceeds the love of power.”
• Well known for her creative use of language and quips:
  • “I do not refer to myself as a housewife for the reason that I did not marry a house”
  • “The only jobs for which no man is qualified are human incubators and wet nurse. Likewise, the only job for which no woman is or can be qualified is a sperm donor”
  • “The hand that rocks the cradle should also rock the boat.”
  • “Semi-versities: Intellectual Rape” – referring to the utter lack of women’s perspectives in education and the gendering of knowledge.

More Information:

• “A Feminist Legacy: The Ethics of Wilma Scott Heide and Company” by Eleanor Humes Haney
• “Feminism for the Health” of It by Wilma Scott Heide
• Archive of papers: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University
• Wilma’s Obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Inspiration for Activism! 

• Tireless advocate for nursing as a discipline, and the value of  nurse-patient relationships.
• Nurtured networking and connections between nurses with different points of view, and between nurses and people from other disciplines.
• Beloved mentor to nurses over 3 generations.
• Used “Graycisms” to raise awareness – for example she urged ending the use of the phrase “doctor’s orders” and replace it with “physician prescriptions” alongside “nurse prescriptions” to guide coordinated and comprehensive care.
• Co-founder of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (with Karen Babich, Judith Maurin, and Shirley Smoyak).
• Founding Editor of Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (JAPNA) along with Nikki Polis.

More information here