Legacy of Nursing A nurse who contributed to the advancement of the nursing profession is Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail. Yellowtail was the first Apsáalooke or Crow decent to have become a registered nurse along with being one of the first nurses of American Indian ancestry in the United States. Susie Yellowtail was orphaned as a child and was raised by her missionary foster parents, during this time in history Native American children were made to attend mission boarding school where the kids were made to give up their native language, beliefs, and culture (W., 2014). Once finished with high school Susie Yellowtail had gone to Boston City Hospital’s School of Nursing and had graduated with honors in 1923. For a few years between traveling in between other tribes before returning to the Crow’s Reservation, all while keeping to her Apsáalooke spiritual and cultural traditions. …show more content…
In each place, there was bad living conditions, unmet health care, capability among medical professional with the indigenous people, and the need to reform to the Indian Health Care. Yellowtail felt the need to become a voice for Native Americans and began documenting these instances. The list was long with events like children dying on their mother's backs who had to walk 20 to 30 miles to a hospital that would treat the 160,000 Native Americans (Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, n.d.). From this Yellowtail started to push for the improvement of Indian Health Services along with creating an outreach program called Community Health Representatives at each of the reservations for the American Indian people. This program was to have medically guided tribal or Native community-based health care providers who might include traditional Native concepts in the
Owen, Narcissa, and Karen L. Kilcup. A Cherokee woman's America memoirs of Narcissa Owen, 1831-1907. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005.
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
Her plan was a success and she was able to start her own women’s nursing corps. Because of their efforts and determination, those two women were acknowledged for helping allowing women to become nurses
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
Joy, M. (2012). Your Mob - Aboriginal Nursing. [video online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phz7DwQ80w8 [Accessed: 14 Apr 2014].
Mary Eliza Mahoney was born May 7, 1845 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Smith, J, & Phelps, S, 1992) Mary Mahoney was the first African American professional nurse. She spent over 40 years as a private duty nurses going to sick people’s homes nursing them back to health. She was such a wonderful private duty nurse that after joining a nursing directory, Mary was called upon time after time by the families that hired her all over the country near and faraway. Mary Mahoney was a member of the Nurses Associated Alumnae of the United States and Canada now known as the American Nurses Association (ANA) since 1896. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999) She was also one of the first members of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) which was a minority nursing organizations that was focused on equality for African-American nurses comparable to that of non minority nurses. Mary was named chaplain of the organization and was later named a lifetime member. After her death on January 4, 1926 from breast cancer the National Association of Colored Graduates Nurses named an award in honor of Mary Eliza Mahoney, after the NACGN was disbanded in 1951 the American Nurses Association continued the Mary Eliza Mahoney award. (Webster, Raymond B, 1999)
When one thinks of the evolution of nursing, several noteworthy women come to mind, yet one stands out, Florence Nightingale. In Notes on Nursing, Nightingale says “…put the patient in the best conditions for nature to act upon him.” (1859, p.75) She established standards that reformed the industry. For example; her practices of sanitation and aseptic methods led to a decrease in hospital mortality rates. By keeping records of care given, techniques used and the outcomes; by utilizing these records, she implemented documentation and evidence-based practice. She started the ball rolling on the transition of nursing from a belittled trade to the profession it is now proclaimed to be. Nightingale, in conjunction with other
In fact, Native American medicine men belief is firmly grounded in age-old traditions, legends and teachings. Healing and medical powers have existed since the very beginning of time according to Native American stories. Consequently they have handed down the tribe's antediluvian legends, which i...
Medical investigators, such as myself, have not given a great deal of attention to the "medical" traditions of indigenous groups in the past. But the outcomes of the recent investigation that took place in "The Four Corners" area exemplify our need to consider age-old notions right along with the ecological history of the region in question. A few months ago, the New Mexico Department of Health notified my department (Office of Medical Investigations) that three young and healthy adults from the Navajo Nation had died of a sudden respiratory illness. Their symptoms had been the similar: fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting, and abdominal pain, followed by coughing and shortness of breath, then the abrupt onset of respiratory distress which is usually fatal (KCPH). Our first inclination was to look at diseases that are known to affect the Navajo specifically, such as bubonic plague, influenza, and viral pneumonia. However, laboratory results indicated that these diseases had not caused the deaths, nor had toxic chemicals. Furthermore, the perplexing disease had begun to take the lives of non-Navajo people living near the reservation (AMNH). By the end of May the mysterious deaths had attracted significant media attention. I remember seeing the headline "Mystery Illness Kills 10 on Reservation" in the Sun-Sentinel while I was conducting interviews there. Without knowledge of a possible cause, our department, and several other agencies, began an intense investigation.
The history of nursing important to understand because it can help our professionals today to know why things are the way it is now and can have solutions to unsolvable problems from history. Captain Mary Lee Mills was an African-American woman born in Wallace, North Carolina in August 1912. She was a role model, an international nursing leader, and a humanitarian in her time. She joined many nursing associations, she participated in public health conferences, gained recognition and won numerous awards for her notable contributions to public health nursing. Her contributions throughout her lifetime made a huge impact on the world today and has changed the lives of how people live because of her passion for public health nursing.
Kugel, Rebecca, and Lucy Eldersveld Murphy. Native women's history in eastern North America before 1900: a guide to research and writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Registered nurses came through a long way back to the 19th century, when they used to provide care to the injured soldiers and other injures strangers. Florence Nightingale was the first influenced in this career. She was a daughter of a British family who worked her life to improve the field of nursing. Her main goal was to spread this field throughout the countries. As a success the first school was in the United States, in Boston. Then later it was passed to New York and others states. In today’s society we are still acknowledge to her great work. And improve the medical field for a better upgrade towards today’s society and generation.
Nursing had not initially been a career option for me, but nursing had made an impact on my life, even at an early age. There was a picture frame that sat on my mother’s dresser with an image of her in her student nurse uniform. It was very formal, and she wore a blue cape with red satin lining. This image gave me my first impression of nursing. Helping my mother with the laundry, bleaching the white uniforms and starching the stiff white cap banded with a thin black velvet ribbon was another activity I associated with nursing. In 1979, my mother was sent to Hershey Medical Center for training to become the first certified Enterostomal Therapist in the state of Virginia. It was at that point that I realized that nursing was a profession, with unique career goals, education and training that was
Nursing has been around for centuries, but has adapted dramatically over the years. Around the year 300 A.D, the Roman Empire placed hospitals in towns that were under its rule. Nursing came to be more important in the 1850s. Nurses were needed all the time, but in the 1850’s needed on the front lines at the Crimean war and Civil war. Nurses were needed at the war zone to help care for the sick and wounded soldiers. A lady
Since the beginning of colonization in the Americas nurses have been at the forefront of medicine. In all of the important stages of our countries development nurses have been there to care for the sick, heal the wounded, and provide a caring hand. They have created a growing and developing profession. Nurses have changed the scope of healthcare and patient care in the United States.