In the first two blogs, I wrote about nurses who served in Crimean War and the Civil War, Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton respectively. They helped saved the lives of soldiers by improving sanitary conditions during medical treatment. Also during this time, the mother and infant mortality after birth was incredibly high. With modern medicine and the foundation of home health services, mortality rates have decreased dramatically due to one woman, Mary Breckinridge.
Breckinridge was born in 1881 to a US Diplomat and was able to travel to many countries while receiving an education in nursing. She began her career helping French mothers and children post-World War I, after the death of both her children before the age of 5. Unlike previous nurses, she was educated as a nurse at a young age without patriarchal strife. After becoming a registered nurse (R.N.), she additionally specialized in midwifery in England. Now, in other countries at the time, mother and child mortality rates were much lower than in the United States. One of the biggest problems was getting care to rural families in the United States. Breckinridge wanted to change those statistics by bringing infant and mother care to individual’s homes.
Breckinridge founded the Frontier Nursing Service in the mid-1920s to aid impoverished and rural families with neonatal and mother care. These nurses, including Breckinridge, would ride on horseback from family to family to care for these patients. Think about that for a second… riding on horseback for miles a day, home to home, to care for newborns and mothers. Although very tough and tiresome on the nurses, they increased care for these patients, therefore decreasing mortality rates. After the success of the Frontier Nursing Service, it expanded to more area, thereby increasing care for more mothers and children while expanding care to patients with tuberculosis . Additionally, the Frontier Nursing Service founded the first midwifery school in the United States, allowing for an increase in midwives in the area.
Sadly, while riding to a home one day, Breckinridge fell off her horse and broke vertebrae in her back. She was left permanently hurt by this fall, but it did not stop her from continuing expanding medical care to women and children. Her dedication and persistence is seen, even today, as home health service is still instilled in the healthcare industry. My mom, a registered nurse, works as a home health nurse for neonatal and mother care after birth; she goes from home to home to aid new mothers and their babies, making certain of their health and answering questions. This type of care provides a more individualized care for patients while allowing patients to stay in the comfort of their homes.
Home health is not solely for mom/baby care anymore, but has expanded to geriatrics, hospice, physical therapy, and many other specialties. All of these can be traced back to Breckinridge and her founding of the Frontier Nursing Service. She revolutionized American healthcare by decreasing mother and child mortality and bringing care to families’ homes
“Mary Breckinridge Biography (1881-1965).” Faqs.org, http://www.faqs.org/health/bios/50/Mary-Breckinridge.html.
I really liked how you tied the post back to your personal experiences by including your mother’s occupation, it aided in increasing your credibility. As far as the actual content, I found it to be very thought provoking. We often take for granted that we have access to quality health care, a privilege not afforded universally.