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Frontier Nursing in Appalachia: History, Organization and the Changing Culture of Care pp 183–202Cite as

Cultural Identity, Public Image and Frontier Nursing

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Abstract

The special relationship that the Service had with the people was disrupted when the Appalachian culture began to erode in the advent of governmental interference on a much larger scale than ever before in the 1960s. The ‘image’ of nurses on horseback and babies in saddlebags, once highly esteemed by the people became suspect. After her death, Breckinridge was accused of using this image to garner funds for her Service while negatively depicting the people of the region [1]. The people also viewed the newer nurses with less respect because they wore jeans with their uniforms and the newer nurses demonstrated a lack of respect for what the uniform represented by opting to do so. The nurses also viewed the people differently than their predecessor’s due in large part to the stereotypes being exported to them [2].

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview#78OH150FNS10 1982. Mary & Clyde Brewer.

  2. 2.

    Interview #82OH05FNS148 1982. Dr. Mary Weiss & Dr. Pauline Fox.

  3. 3.

    FNS Audio Visual Series. Forgotten Frontier (1927). This is a silent, black and white film, the first made of the FNS. It was filmed by Breckinridge’s cousin, Marvin Breckinridge. Factual stories were re-enacted by the FNS nurses and the families they served in the actual homes of the local people, depicting the work of the service. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA.

  4. 4.

    FNS Audio Visual Series. The Road (1967). This film is in colour and narrated. It also uses real nurses, patients and places at the FNS to depict the work of the service. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA.

  5. 5.

    Judy Haralson-Rafson. American former FNS Nurse (1971–1976; 1971 Graduate of FNS Family Nurse Practitioner Program).

  6. 6.

    FNS Audio Visual Series, et al., 1927, 1967 & 1974, FNS Audio Visual Series, Cherish the Children (1974). This film is in colour and narrated. It also uses real nurses, patients and places at the FNS to depict the work of the Service but depicts physicians educating patients when the nurses had been the ones doing this. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA.

  7. 7.

    FNS Graduate Midwifery School Promotional Brochures 1925–1968. 85M1: FNS, Box 323, Fol. 1 & 2., Brochures from 1940s depict a car outside of the hospital, comfortable, rustic quarters, lectures by medical staff and hospital deliveries. There are shots of cabins and nurses on horseback as well. 1950s brochures depict jeeps and travel by jeep and horseback by nurses. 1960s brochures have updated photos of the hospital and newer equipment. 1960s–1970s materials include updated photographs of jeeps, nurses, clinics and the hospital with one ‘baby in a saddlebag’ shot on the back cover. ‘FNS Family Nurse & Nurse Midwife Brochures (1971–1979)’ have no photographs at all. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA.

  8. 8.

    FNS Family Nurse & Nurse Midwife Brochures 1971–1979. 85M1: FNS, Box 323, Fol. 1 & 2.

  9. 9.

    Colliers Magazine 1946, Courier Journal Magazine 1953, Hi-Power News 1948, Life Magazine 1969, Nursing Mirror & Midwives Journal 1955, Scope Weekly 1958, The Progressive Farmer 1954. 85M1: FNS, Box 36, Fol.s 4–14.

  10. 10.

    Breckinridge’s Personal Correspondence, 14 September 1926. 85M1: FNS, Box 2, Fol. 20., Breckinridge writes, “A number of magazines have asked for articles on the work and the nurses are preparing them. An article entitled ‘An Adventure in Midwifery’ has won the Harmon Prize and was published in the October issue of the Survey-Graphic.” University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA.

  11. 11.

    Judie Pridie-Halse. British former FNS Nurse-Midwife (1960–1961).

  12. 12.

    Roberta Stidham. American former FNS Nurse (1960–1961).

  13. 13.

    Georgia Ledford, former Secretary for FNS Community Committee & long-time resident of Appalachia.

  14. 14.

    Mary & Clyde Brewer. Long time residents of Appalachia who wrote a book on it called “Of Bolder Me” and later called “Rugged Trails of Appalachia.”

  15. 15.

    Betty Lester, former long-time FNS Nurse (English).

  16. 16.

    Anne Lorentzen. American former FNS Nurse (1963–1965).

  17. 17.

    Jean A. Hospital oncology nurse < 1 year.

  18. 18.

    Molly Lee. British former FNS Nurse-Midwife (1950–1970s).

  19. 19.

    Margaret (Maggie) Willson. British former FNS Nurse-Midwife (1955–1967).

  20. 20.

    Morrison S. Hospital staff nurse for 1 year, critical care for 10 years, pain management for 13 years.

  21. 21.

    Sloan M. Hospital operating room staff nurse for 2.5 years, research. 5 years.

  22. 22.

    Tipper N. Hospital telemetry nurse for 3 years. Date surveyed: 05/11/2007.

  23. 23.

    Heroines on Horseback by Dorothy Miles. 85M1: FNS, Box 36, Fol. 5. Colliers Magazine (3 August 1946). University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. p. 275.

  24. 24.

    Courier Journal Magazine. 85M1: FNS, Box 36, Fol. 13. Mercy Hits the Trail: The FNS Sends Out Florence Nightingales on Horseback. (29 November 1953) University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. p. 7.

  25. 25.

    Trained Nurse. 85M1: FNS, Box 36, Fol. 11. May 1930 (3rd. Edition, 1946). Magazine features FNS nurse on horseback and another in a jeep on the cover with a story on the FNS inside. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. p. 275.

  26. 26.

    The Frontier Nursing Service by Adelaide Mueller. In: The Walther League Messenger (April 1968). 85M1: FNS, Box 36, Fol. 7. University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. p. 16.

  27. 27.

    Interview #82OH03FNS146 1982. Agnes Lewis.

  28. 28.

    Interview#82OH11FNS154 1982. Wilma Duvall Whittlesey.

  29. 29.

    Interview#82OH34FNS177 1982. Mary Stewart.

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  1. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA, USA

    Edie West

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West, E. (2019). Cultural Identity, Public Image and Frontier Nursing. In: Frontier Nursing in Appalachia: History, Organization and the Changing Culture of Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20027-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20027-5_9

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