Lillian Wald-Impetus for Involvement in Nursing and Role in Nursing History

The more I read about Lillian Wald, the more fascinated I become with her career in nursing and her humanitarian accomplishments. She was a very influential leader of social reform and "tireless advocate for women and children" ("About our Founder," n.d.). She is probably best known for pioneering the concept of public health nursing by placing nurses in public schools and founding the Visiting Nurse Service and the Henry Street Settlement in New York, which are now separate institutions, and both still serving the community today ("Women Who Nurse," 1940, October).

Lillian Wald was born March 10, 1867, to Max and Minne Wald of Cincinnati, OH. She was born into a life of privilege. Her German-Jewish family moved to New York where Wald attended a private boarding school for girls (Brody, 1996).

Young Wald attended the birth of her sister's child, and observed the care provided by a private nurse for her sister. Wald was inspired by the serious nature of the nurse's work. It is at this point that she became interested in nursing. Her interest persisted and at the age of 22, she enrolled in the New York Hospital Training School ("Becomes a Nurse", n.d.).

Upon graduation, Wald worked in an institution for orphans. She was upset by the methods used in institutions, and she wanted to change things ("Becomes a Nurse," n.d.). Wald moved to Manhattan and began visiting women and children living in poverty on the Lower East Side as part of an assignment she was working on for a graduate course. Wald was again upset over the miserable living conditions. She then decided to dedicate her life's work to providing care for the poverty stricken immigrants living in the tenement community. Wald soon decided to move into the area so that she could be a visiting nurse there, while also educating the mothers about hygiene and preventive health measures (Brody, 1996).

In 1893, Wald founded the Nurse's Settlement, which later became the Henry Street Settlement House. She began to get financial support from sponsors who saw the importance of her work and soon won the confidence of the community. As the number of her patients increased, she had to hire more staff. By 1913, her staff had grown to 92 visiting nurses ("Public School Programs," n.d.).

While visiting in the homes of the tenement community, Wald noticed the number of children absent from school due to illness. She had the idea of placing one of her visiting public health nurses in a public school. She pressured the school system until she succeeded in 1902, when Lina L. Rogers was hired as New York City's first public school nurse ("Public School Programs," n.d.). The placement of this nurse was so successful in reducing absenteeism, the New York Board of Health took notice. The next month, after hiring a fleet of twelve more school nurses, the New York Board of Health established the first public nursing system in the world (Brody, 1996).

Being a school nurse myself, Wald's accomplishment of convincing the New York City School System to hire a nurse in a school is more than interesting to me, it is my heritage. I love reading about the impact Wald made on the health and educational success of school children. I think it most interesting that after succeeding in convincing the school system to hire a public health nurse, Wald did not stop there. She went on to advocate for free school lunches and for special education services for children with learning disabilities and physical handicaps. She believed all children could benefit from a public school education. Because of her efforts, New York Public Schools established the first Department of Special Education. Her efforts in public schools established access to adequate health care, nutrition, and special education services for all children ("Public School Programs," n.d.). Her impact on the communities she personally served, and on public health nursing overall is beyond measure.

References

Brody, S. (1996). Lillian Wald. Jewish heroes and heroines: 150 true stories of American Jewish heroism. Hollywood, FL: Lifetime Books, Inc.

Henry Street Settlement. (n.d.) About our founder. Retrieved June 25, 2009 from http://www.henrystreet.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_lwald.

Jewish Women's Archive. (n.d.) Lillian Wald: Becomes a nurse. Retrieved June 25, 2009 from https://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/wald/lw2.html.

Jewish Women's Archive. (n.d.) Lillian Wald: Public school programs. Retrieved June 25, 2009 from https://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/wald/lw6.html.

Women who nurse: Lillian Wald, R.N. (1940, October). RN. Retrieved June 24, 2009 from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.