famous nurses who made history

World War I Combat Nursing (1885 to 1918) The battlefield that has become many brave soldiers grave also led Helen Fairchild to her final destination. But compared to those soldiers who were there to fight and kill, she was in the battlefield with the primary mission of saving lives. Fairchild was one of the 64 nurses who left Pennsylvania Hospital with the American Expeditionary Force to France, in 1917. Fairchild was immediately sent to the Casualty Clearing Station 4 at the third Battle of Ypress Passchendaele. As a front line combat nurse, young Helen was exposed to mustard gas, which was used against the Allied Forced during a heavy shelling. Mustard gas has the ability to mimic the effects of chloroform on the stomach. This worsened the abdominal pain that she already had even before leaving the U.S. After every meal, Helen vomited. She was later on diagnosed with large gastric ulcer that obstructed her pylorus. Doctors recommended gastro enterostomy operation on the 13th of January 1918. Fairchilds operation seemed successful, but became jaundiced on the 3rd day. Her condition rapidly deteriorated, she fell into coma, and died on January 18, 1918. Nurse Helen Fairchilds short lived combat nursing carrier endured through history, serving as inspiration to nurses in the military.

Civil War Nurse, Writer & Poet (1832 1888) Louisa May Alcotts service as a nurse during the Civil War was short lived, only on a winter month between 1862 and 1863. She served at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, Virginia. However, while in the nursing service, Alcott contracted typhoid pneumonia and forced to go back home to regain good health. She suffered permanent health damage because of the fever and of the calomel dose or mercurous chloride, causing recovery to become long and gradual. Alcotts nursing career was not as bold as that of other Civil War heroic nurses to be able to be lined among the famous nurses list. However, her experience as nurse, which she wrote in her book Hospital Sketches, published in 1863, made her extremely popular. Moods and Scenes from Dickens were also published, the latter completed to benefit the Sanitary Commission. Alcott became well known through her literary pieces, published more than 30 different books and collections of stories. On March 6, 1888, Louisa May Alcott passed away.

Vietnam War Nurse & Founder and President of Vietnam Womens Memorial Foundation (1946 to Present) Diane Carlson Evans served as surgical nurse in the surgical and burnt unit of the 36th Evacuation Hospital in Vung Tau and in the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku. Before she treaded the risky life of a combat nurse, she was equipped with knowledge of nursing school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduation, Evans readily joined the Army Nurse Corps. At 21, she was sent to the Vietnam War and served there for 1 year. Diane Carlson Evans fought for the honor of the women who bravely battled side by side with male soldiers in Vietnam War era. It took 7 years of lobbying before the congress, convincing the legislators to recognize the immense value of 11,000 military women to Vietnam and the 265,000 others in service during the war. In November 11, 1993, the Vietnam Womens Memorial was dedicated. Many American Veterans continue to support the foundation, wherein Evans still actively serves as president.

The Presidents Wife (1818 to 1882) Mary Anne Todd Lincoln, Former President Abraham Lincolns wife, was better known as a well educated aristocrat with great interest in politics, which actually helped Abraham to the presidential office. Her witty, sarcastic comments, frenzy spending, and alleged mental illness tore into her rather worthy life as wife of a president. At one point of her life as first lady of the United States of America, Mary Todd Lincoln showed the compassionate side of her by working as volunteer nurse in the Union hospitals. On April 1861, the Union soldiers decamped at the White House for support of Lincolns administration, and Mary played a major role of keeping the morale of the soldiers, frequently visiting the wounded soldiers and making rounds to check on their condition. Sadly, though, that person was less noted by the society.

The Egalitarian (1819 to 1892) Born to a working class family, Walt Whitman had to quit formal schooling at the age of 11 and start working as office boy for some prominent lawyers. Walt began self educating, gaining wide knowledge through visits to museums, nonstop reading, as well as engaging in conversations and debates. He learned a lot about literature, theater, history, geography, music and archeology through his informal education. At the age of 12, he was already contributing to newspapers, and at 15 his first signed piece was published in the New Yorks newspaper, Mirror. When he reached 17, a destructive fire wiped out the growing newspaper industry, forcing Whitman to teach in the Long Island towns for income. However, teaching made him depressed, and his poetic works bore this feeling of him. Whitman also tried putting up his own newspaper in 1838, with the name The Long Islander, which sadly folded after just a year. This dragged him back to teaching in the Southold, which he abruptly abandoned for fiction writing, real journalism, and poetry, due to the rumors of him committing sodomy. Until now, this rumor hasnt been fully ended because of his close mysterious relationships with men. It seems, though, that his return to Southold and creating unperturbed journalistic pieces suggested that he considered himself temperamentally unsuited for teaching. See more at: http://www.pulseuniform.com/nursing/famous nurses.asp#sthash.g8EQqKE2.dpuf