On this day in Labor History the year was 1837.
That was the day that Louisa Lee Schuyler was born in New York City.
She was dedicated to the causes of public health and welfare, especially for the poor.
This led her to help found the Bellevue Training School for Nurses in 1873.
It was the first nurse’s school in the United States based on the principals of Florence Nightingale, the English social reformer who established modern nursing practices.
Louisa had become concerned with the conditions found at the city’s public hospitals.
Along with three other women, she toured Bellevue hospital finding poor lighting, dire sanitary conditions, and even a laundry that had run out of soap.
The women wrote up a report about their findings.
They made the case that a professionally trained nursing staff would help remedy the situation.
The work of women during the Civil War had shown the potentially important role of nurses in providing medical care.
The women’s request was approved on a trial basis at Bellevue.
Bellevue hospital had opened its doors in 1736, making it the oldest continually running public hospital in the United States.
The first class of nursing students included just six women.
Early training focused on improving sanitary conditions at the hospital and seeing to patient comfort.
But instruction grew quickly to include basic medical training.
By 1879 enrollment had grown to more than sixty trainees.
Proud of their accomplishments, graduates wore a school pin.
Designed by Tiffany & Company, the pin portrayed a crane in the middle of a wreath of poppies.
The school operated for nearly a century, until the training program was incorporated into Hunter College.
January 31 - The Big Easy Fires 7000 Teachers
January 30 - Fred Korematsu Day
January 29 - Bread & Roses Striker, Anna LoPizzo, Shot Dead
January 28 - The 1917 Bath Riots
January 27 - Bans on Yellow Dog Contracts Ruled Unconstitutional
January 26 - Sid Hatfield Stands Trial
January 25 - Solidarity Works!
January 24 - Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is Born
January 23 - If Poison Doesn’t Work, Try Briggs!
January 22 - Tragedy in the Mines & in the Union Hall
January 21 - On Strike for Health & Dignity
January 20 - The Flint Womens Emergency Brigades
January 19 - A Snapshot in Misery
January 18 - Is Colorado in America?
January 17 - Standing Against Wage Theft
January 15 - We Want to Live, Not Just Exist
January 14 - The Rise of the Bellamyites
January 13 - Johnny Cash Plays Folsom Prison
January 12 - The Cost of Wartime Industrial Peace
January 11 - Battle of the Running Bulls
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