Maine Nursing: Interviews and History on Caring and Competence

by Valerie Hart, Susan Henderson, Juliana L'Heureux

Maine nurses have served tirelessly as caregivers and partners in healing at home and abroad, from hospitals to battlefields. The Division of Public Health Nursing and Child Hygiene was established in 1920 to combat high rates of infant mortality in Washington and Aroostook Counties. During the Vietnam War, Maine nurses helped build the Twelfth Evacuation Hospital at Cu Chi and bravely assisted surgeries in the midst of fighting. In the early 1980s, nurse disease prevention educators in Portland rose to the challenge of combating the growing AIDS epidemic. Through historical anecdotes and fascinating oral histories, discover the remarkable sacrifices and achievements of Maine's nurses.

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 6, 2016

Reviews

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maine nurses have served tirelessly as caregivers and partners in healing at home and abroad, from hospitals to battlefields. The Division of Public Health Nursing and Child Hygiene was established in 1920 to combat high rates of infant mortality in Washington and Aroostook Counties. During the Vietnam War, Maine nurses helped build the Twelfth Evacuation Hospital at Cu Chi and bravely assisted surgeries in the midst of fighting. In the early 1980s, nurse disease prevention educators in Portland rose to the challenge of combating the growing AIDS epidemic. Through historical anecdotes and fascinating oral histories, discover the remarkable sacrifices and achievements of Maine's nurses.Nursing care was based on compassion,justice and social reform by early nursing leaders.Many women participated in compassionate care before the development of professional nursing. Their work became the foundation of nursing practices that the public recognised as the basis for the most trusted profession.The role of the public health nurse required sensitivity,empathy and the ability to communicate across cultural and economic lines.Providing education acceptable to families was critical.Sometimes it became necessary to remove children from homes.The early public health nurses needed to work to win and maintain cooperation of all community members,including physicians.Voices of nurses in the 1980s spoke about the changes in the traditional role of nursing as nurses participated in evolving systems of healthcare management,cost controls,higher education,research and theory development.Quality, cost and access became increasingly established as interdependent concepts in healthcare.Education focused on intellectual development,clinical judgement,ethical comportment and mentorship into the profession.There's the National League for Nursing,American Nurses Association,and the Maine State Nurses Association, (incorporated December 10,1914).