A Pioneer in the Nursing Profession, Lillian Wald

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Lillian Wald was a pioneer for the nursing profession as well as an advocate for many unrecognized populations in the United States. Wald was passionate about people, especially the poor and overlooked (A+E, para.2). While working with the underprivileged she concluded that she could be doing more. During her nursing career she established many programs and reformed society in countless ways. Wald is mostly recognized for her pioneering in public health nursing, but she impacted nursing as a whole in a way that changed the profession forever.
Beginning of Ms. Wald’s Career
In 1891, at the age of 22, Lillian Wald decided to attend nursing school. She moved to New York and acquired her education at New York Hospital’s Training School for nurses (National Women’s Hall of Fame, 2011, para. 1). Wald then became a registered nurse after completing school, and began her career. She started on the streets of New York City at the New York Juvenile Asylum, getting to see eye opening poverty and living conditions (National Women’s Hall of Fame, 2011, para. 1). Within four years of working there, she knew she needed to do something more.
Wald “started the Visiting Nurse Service in 1893” to better serve the communities in New York’s Lower East Side (A+E, para. 1). Her and a couple friends and fellow nurses quickly realized the need for a more established organization and started the Henry Street Settlement two years later (Henry Street Settlement, para. 2). The Henry Street Settlement provided nursing services in home, as well as offering “effective social, recreational, and educational services” (Henry Street Settlement, para. 3). The Settlement then turned into the Visiting Nurse Service of New York City, and paved a new road fo...

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...social reformation in the nursing profession (A+E, para.2). I hope to one day follow in her footsteps, changing people’s lives for the better.

Works Cited

A+E. Lillian d. wald biography. A+E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/lillian-d-wald-9521707 Creasia, Joan L., Elizabeth Friberg. Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional
Nursing Practice, 5th Edition. Mosby, 2011. VitalBook file.
Henry Street Settlement. (n.d.). Lillian wald. Retrieved from http://www.henrystreet.org/about/history/lillian-wald.html National Women’s Hall of Fame. (2011). Lillian wald. Retrieved from http://www.greatwomen.org/component/fabrik/details/2/161 Wages, J. (n.d.). Lillian d. wald (1867-1940). In J. Wages (Ed.), National Women's History
Museum. Retrieved from http://www.nwhm.org/educationresources/biography/biographies/lillian-wald/

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