October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale

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.