Public health nurses: A century of photos

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Since 1886, VNA of Greater Philadelphia has been providing quality compassionate home and community care to Philadelphia area residents. Karen

Philadelphia Inquirer

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Jean C. Whelan, PhD, RN

Visualizing Philadelphia's public health nurses at work: A century of photos

For more than a century, nurses have served as the cornerstone of public health efforts in this country. Most Americans at some point in their lives have had contact with a public health nurse. It's hard to live for very long without meeting one. Remember the school nurse who made sure your vaccinations were up to date and bandaged the cuts and bruises you suffered during recess? She was a public health nurse. Have you or a member of your family ever needed the services of a visiting nurse to care for someone at home? She--and it was almost always a woman--was a public health nurse, too....
To obtain the full flavor of the essential work carried out by public health nurses and visualize how society dealt previously with public health, look through the photos posted at at the Pinterest site of the Bates Nursing Center.
Information about the full Philadelphia Visiting Nurse Service Photo Collection is posted at the University of Pennsylvania's Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing.)