1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to steph you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. Uh So, 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: today we're going to talk about the topic that a 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: lot of people have requested, the one that I have 6 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: noted as the most recent requesters. The listener, Amy, I'm 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: a little worried. I'm going to confess because, Um, we've 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: talked before in the show about pioneers who advanced the 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: medical field, specifically as it relates to infants. They're usually 10 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: super uplifting and really great stories. Today's subject definitely adds 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: to that medical improvement for the health of children, but 12 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: it also has some problematic elements, and I don't know 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: that people who have requested it necessarily know those problematic parts, 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: and they may be disappointed to discover them. I have 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: several things that are on not the specific topic that 16 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: we're about to talk about, but several things on my 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: episode suggestion list that I know that people who have 18 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: asked it are expecting, like a firming, uplifting story, but 19 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: there's like a bad side to it that Yeah, yes, Um, 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: I was describing this story to my husband in the 21 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: car this morning, as I often do, sort of as 22 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: a way to make sure I've got basses covered, and uh, 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: you know, all the logic flows, and he said, I 24 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: feel like history is full of this one m Night 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: Shamalan plot twist where people seem amazing and then they 26 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: turn out to have like this horrible thing about them, 27 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: usually racism. I was like, it's a really good way 28 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: to put it, especially this particular time period. Yes, so 29 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: we're talking about Mary breckan Ridge. She is known as 30 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: the founder of American nurse Midwiffrey and she's an iconic 31 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: figure in Kentucky. But as we have just alluded to 32 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: their problematic parts of her her ideology, there's some udenics 33 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: we're gonna get to you. So we're gonna talk first 34 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: about sort of her life and what led her to 35 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: do this, and and then at the end will discuss 36 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: these problematic elements. So let's hit it. Mary Breckenridge was 37 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: born in Memphis, Tennessee, on February one. Her father, Clifton 38 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: Rhodes Breckenridge, was a congressman from Arkansas, so she spent 39 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: a lot of her childhood in Washington, d C. Yeah, 40 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: He's an interesting figure too. There's like a whole uh 41 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: scandal of voting scandal related to his his uh political career, 42 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: but maybe for another episode. After Washington, the Breckenridge Is 43 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: moved eventually across the globe to St. Petersburg, Russia, when 44 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,519 Speaker 1: her father was appointed U S Minister to Russia, and 45 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: Mary's education, as you may guess from this uh life 46 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: of being in a pretty prominent family, was one of privilege. 47 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: She attended private schools in the US in Stanford, Connecticut 48 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: and at the Lausanne, Switzerland, and she had private tutors 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: in Russia as well. Basically everywhere they went she had 50 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: the best possible education. At the age of eighteen, Mary 51 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: moved to Arkansas, where she lived until her marriage to 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: Henry Ruffner Morrison, who was a lawyer. In nineteen o four. 53 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: Mary was widowed after just two years with her husband, 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: when Morrison died because of acute appendicitis. Still sort of 55 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: dealing with this loss, breck and Ridge enrolled in school again, 56 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: this time in New York City at a nursing school 57 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: at St. Luke's Hospital. She graduated and became a registered 58 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: nurse in nineteen ten, six years after the death of 59 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: her first husband, Mary got married a second time, this 60 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: time to the president of a woman's school in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 61 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: Richard Ryan Thompson. Mary started to work at the school 62 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: as a teacher. Her international education lent itself to teaching language, 63 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: specifically French, and she also taught classes on hygiene. In 64 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, Mary and Richard had a son, Clifton brick 65 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: and Ridge Thompson, who they nicknamed Brecky. Two years later, 66 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixteen, they had a second child, this time 67 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: a daughter named Polly, and they were very excited about it, 68 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: but their joy was abruptly cut short. She died just 69 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: six hours after her birth. Mary wrote of this lost quote, 70 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: I grieved for the life she had missed, the splendid 71 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: work she might have done, the human motherhood she might 72 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: not know. Two years later, four year old Breckie also 73 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: died just days after his birthday. He got sick. He 74 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: underwent surgery to address what doctors thought was an intestinal blockage. 75 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: It became immediately clear that he had a serious abdominal infection, 76 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: and he never recovered. This death not only struck her 77 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: to the core as a grieving parent, but it also 78 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: really made Mary fear for her work and how it 79 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: would be perceived by the public. She had been writing 80 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,359 Speaker 1: for several years about how to raise healthy children, and 81 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: she had, in the course of two years, lost both 82 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: of her own She was worried that people would think 83 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: that that meant she didn't know what she was talking about. 84 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: Throughout the rest of her life, she believed that Breckie 85 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: was ever present in a spiritual sense and that she 86 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: could communicate with him on the other side. The strain 87 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: of losing two chill dren also took a toll on 88 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: her marriage. Mary experienced bouts of depression which continued through 89 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 1: her life, and her husband, Richard, was not faithful. Mary 90 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: left Richard in nineteen eighteen while World War One was 91 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: still playing out, and she applied to work with the 92 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: American Red Cross as a nurse in Europe, but she 93 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: had to wait for an assignment. In case you are 94 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: ever looking at at information about her life, we didn't 95 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: go into it. They will often list her divorce as 96 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty, which is when the divorce papers actually happened, 97 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: but they had been apart for two years by that point. 98 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: Uh this reason for her delay, though in joining the 99 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: Red Cross was due to the rule that no one 100 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: with a brother actively serving in the military could be 101 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: sent to areas where the war was taking place. This was, 102 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: you know, in order to preserve the family in the 103 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: likelihood that the place that the brother was stationed got 104 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: bombed or rated or attacked in some way, and like 105 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: a family would not lose multiple children at once. Uh. 106 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: Since Mary had a brother serving at the time, but 107 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: really felt strongly that she could make an impact on 108 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: the children of Europe who needed assistance, she and her 109 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 1: mother went to visit the head of the American Red 110 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: Cross Nursing Service, Jane Delano, and sort of lead her 111 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: case to get around the rule. Delano agreed that Mary 112 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: would be an asset, but she still couldn't send her 113 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: because of the brother rule. While Delano worked on Mary's behalf, 114 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: breck and Ridge took on a three month assignment, traveling 115 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: through the country collecting data on the state of children's 116 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: health and giving speeches. Yeah, and just to be clear 117 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: of that country is the u S. She went far 118 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: west and visited a variety of spaces places, and when 119 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: Mary was finally cleared you joined the Red Cross Children's 120 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: Bureau in France. She first went to Washington, d C. 121 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: To make arrangements and fill out the necessary paperwork, but 122 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: this actually ended up being quite a detour. All of 123 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: this was happening, you'll recall, in nineteen eighteen, and Washington, 124 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: d C, like many other places, was hit really hard 125 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: by the influenza epidemic, which we've talked about on the 126 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: show before. As a nurse, Mary was desperately needed, so 127 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: she volunteered to help. Almost immediately after seeing how badly 128 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: over texted the medical services in the area were, and 129 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,119 Speaker 1: after she first asked Jane Delano if she could delay 130 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: her trip to France a little while longer, this volunteer 131 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: job almost immediately became more than Mary had anticipated. She 132 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: later wrote in her autobiography quote, the head nurse of 133 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: my area fell ill soon after I reported for duty, 134 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: so that I was plunged into the direction of nursing 135 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: care for thousands and thousands of stricken people. I don't 136 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: recall how many patients we had in my district at 137 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: the peak of the epidemic, but it could not have 138 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: been less than forty thousand. Nor do I remember how 139 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: many nurses I had to help me. But I don't 140 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: think there were more than five. We used hundreds of 141 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: aids for the day and nightcare of the patients with 142 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: pneumonia and the families where everybody had come down with influenza. 143 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: Many of these aids were clerks turned over to us 144 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: from the for the emergency by the government bureaus, and 145 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,559 Speaker 1: only a few of them had received training in home 146 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: care of the sick. To compound matters, this situation was 147 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: so chaotic as medical person know, when people who had 148 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: sort of been requisitioned into being medical personnel to keep 149 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: up with the ever growing roster of patients, that records 150 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: were a little bit haphazard, she notes in her autobiography, 151 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: like some of the reasons clerks tended to write things 152 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: about the decease that had more to do with like 153 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: their area of knowledge than actually, we're really relevant to 154 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: the illness. Like one person worked UH for the government, 155 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: and they talked about how one of the deceased patients 156 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: had been UH sacking away sugar, like she had been 157 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: kind of hoarding sugar, And it was like, this isn't 158 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: relevant to her medical information at all. Why are you 159 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: putting this? But it was just the mindset of his 160 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: his or her. I don't know the gender uh. The 161 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: previous job made them think of things in those terms. 162 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: Bed Bugs were also a really bad problem in the 163 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: area that year, so nurses were fighting both influenza and 164 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: infestation of their patients homes. When the influenza epidemic had passed, 165 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: Mary went back to preparing to join the Red Cross, 166 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: but her passport and yalty papers had a longer processing 167 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: time than she had anticipated. Unwilling to just wait, she 168 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 1: filled the time with the Boston Instructive District Nursing Association, 169 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: where she furthered her education after an abbreviated version of 170 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:18,920 Speaker 1: the association Association's training courses. She worked in underprivileged neighborhoods 171 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: and tenements in Boston. She later said of the experience, quote, 172 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: I was to be grateful a thousand times over after 173 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: I got to France of all that I learned in Boston. 174 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: By the time she had her passport, it was after 175 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: November eleventh, nineteen eighteen, and the war was over. But 176 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: she still felt compelled to go, and so she made 177 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: arrangements to be released from her obligation to the Red Cross, 178 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: which was no longer sending medical personnel to France. And 179 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: then she did travel to France to work with the 180 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: American Committee for Devastated France. That was an organization founded 181 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: by JP Morgan's daughter, Anne Morgan, in which Mary deeply loved, 182 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: second only to the one that she would later found herself. 183 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Mary's work in France, but 184 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: first we will pause for a little sponsor break. The 185 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: loss of her children had really been Breckinridge's inspiration to 186 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 1: doggedly pursue work in children's health, and she never lost 187 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: that sense of calling. She had been interested in children's 188 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: health before then, but she really became hyper focused on 189 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: it after that, and she had been able to focus 190 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: some of her public health work in Boston and Washington, 191 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: d c. On the needs of children, and she obviously 192 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: was working in that area as she toured the country 193 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: for her reporting assignment with the Children's Bureau. She then 194 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: carried that focus and passion for the care of children 195 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: to Europe as well. In her work with the a 196 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: c DF, she started a program that focused on the 197 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,600 Speaker 1: needs of pregnant women, children, and nursing mothers, providing both 198 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: medical care and vitally needed nutrition. Even though the war 199 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: was over, there were still heavy restrictions on where she 200 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,439 Speaker 1: could travel, so she had to once again wait for 201 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: a military permit to travel into the war zone. Once 202 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: she finally was approved, she saw immediately that the people 203 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: of Ants needed all the basics, clothing, betting, and above 204 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 1: all food. She wrote quote and the parts of France 205 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: occupied by the Germans, it was not a question of 206 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: the people returning to their shattered homes, because they were 207 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: already there when the Germans withdrew, But all around them 208 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: the ground, the bridges, the roads were destroyed so that 209 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: it was almost impossible to get supplies to them, and 210 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:23,640 Speaker 1: some villages in the Nord people had to be fed 211 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:27,199 Speaker 1: by airplane. With such widespread destruction, the problem of transport 212 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: assumed gigantic proportions. One of the vital parts of rebuilding 213 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: the country that Mary was directly involved in was acquiring 214 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: wheat seeds so that rural areas would be able to 215 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: plant crops. She personally delivered the request for wheat, and 216 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: as the women chauffeurs in their organization were the only 217 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: ones who were managing regular transport in the area, they 218 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: delivered all of the wheat seed that ended up in 219 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: the ground for that following spring. Even so, getting crops 220 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: back up and running was actually quite dangerous because the 221 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: fields were filled with buried explosives and farmers who accidentally 222 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: hit them while digging off and died or required really 223 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,559 Speaker 1: extensive medical treatment. The a c DF also helped people 224 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: re establish their households. In addition to seeing that they 225 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: got feeds to plant crops and medical treatment, they also 226 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: assisted by helping them get low or no cost furnishings 227 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: and providing small animals to farms, like rabbits and chickens. 228 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: And throughout all of this the nurses and other personnel 229 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: working under the umbrella of the American Committee for Devastated 230 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: France we're living in really rough conditions themselves. Public works 231 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: such as water and electricity services were not restored for 232 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: quite some time, and the nurses lived in a building 233 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: that had been severely damaged by bombings. Mary wrote quote 234 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: the American Committee for Devastated France was a masterpiece of 235 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: an organization, not only in its handling of direct relief 236 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: under baffling difficulties, but in later developments that were to 237 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: be integrated into the very heart of French life. Mary 238 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: really fell in love with the people of France, and 239 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: she wrote in one letter to her mother that she 240 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: saw so many families trying to fight their way back 241 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: from malnourishment after the war. She wrote, quote, if I 242 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: could give right now a goat to every family that 243 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,200 Speaker 1: has a baby, I think we could go far towards 244 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: saving many that are dying. There is such grip and 245 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 1: pneumonia among them that they have no powers of resistance. 246 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: I wish I had a thousand goats right now. I 247 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: wish I had fifty. This goat thing is my favorite 248 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,839 Speaker 1: part of her story mine too. Mary's mother passed the 249 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: letter around friends and family, and sum donations of money 250 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: for the purchase of goats poured into the a c DF. 251 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,559 Speaker 1: Mary would later call this project her goat Crusade because 252 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 1: she also had to raise funds for feed for the 253 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: goats for their breeding, and letters back home to each 254 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: donor to tell them about the family who was benefiting 255 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: from their generosity. Yeah, that was kind of before a 256 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: lot of the modern um charity organizations do things like that. 257 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,599 Speaker 1: But she was naming goats for families that had bought them, 258 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: and then you know, would keep these correspondences going of 259 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 1: like here's how the family that got your goat is 260 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: doing which is pretty interesting. There's a really great story 261 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: in her autobiography about the first truck, which I think 262 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 1: had twenty nine goats. Like she opens the door and 263 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: there was one goat that had apparently like destroyed a 264 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,319 Speaker 1: bunch of their medical supplies like baby bottles, which she 265 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: was like, I don't even care. I'm so glad the 266 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,439 Speaker 1: goats are here. Um. And while she was in Europe, 267 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: she also became acquainted with midwiffery practice in both France 268 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: and England, and she felt that it should be established 269 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: in the United States as well. Ever, eager for education, 270 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: I have to admit that problematic though she is, I 271 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: admire her constant quest to be educated. Uh, Breckinridge decided 272 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 1: to formalize her learning on this subject, and she studied 273 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: midwiffery in several different schools in Great Britain and was 274 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: certified by the UK's Central Midwives Board. And we should 275 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: know this isn't the first time that Mary Breckenridge had 276 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: been exposed the concept of a midwife assisted birth, and 277 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: her family was in Russia. Her mother had a midwife 278 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: in attendance at the birth of Mary's younger brother, and 279 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: that had made an impact on her, and we're going 280 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: to talk more about later. Like midwiffery has been along 281 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: as has been around in some way as long as 282 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: babies have been yea and in uh yeah she she 283 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: isn't like she discovered it now, just kind of how 284 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: she's sometimes uh framed in the US, we had no 285 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: idea this was a thing, and it's like no, no, no, no, no, 286 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: we're talking about more formal eyes Midwiffrey training and programs. Additionally, 287 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: she also studied how pre war France had provided for 288 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: infant care, and she learned that the Public Assistance Office 289 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: had this program which allowed new parents to bring their 290 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: babies to a government office, usually like a town hall, 291 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: where a doctor would be for weighing and for advice 292 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: on their care, and that there was also a service 293 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: in some cities of France which provided baby milk stations, 294 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: but there wasn't much education for parents and how to 295 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: handle milk and some of the other medical deeds their 296 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: child might have. She saw what she felt was a 297 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: gap in the system in the lack of parent education, 298 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: and she decided that a visiting nurse service could fill 299 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: that gap, so she set up a demonstration version so 300 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: that it could get some data on its successes. Soon 301 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: she was asked to expand the program, and she had 302 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: to really scramble to find properly trained nurses to staff it. 303 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: Her little experiment. People were like, this is great, Uh, 304 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: can you widen your area of coverage? And she was like, 305 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: oh um. Before long, her nurses were seeing to the 306 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: general health care needs of the communities in which they worked, 307 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: and not just prenatal in early childhood care. She was 308 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: really pleased with her success in this endeavor, but the 309 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: administrative duties that it required took her away from the 310 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: hands on nursing that she loved so much. And as 311 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 1: her role with the American Committee for Devastated France grew, 312 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: breckon Ridge was offered a car and a chauffeur to 313 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: drive her as needed, but she opted to actually pool 314 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: those resources with the other drivers who were already helping 315 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: to deliver aid. Mary also traveled to Scotland to expand 316 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: her medical knowledge while she lived in Europe. There she 317 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: studied a nursing service that cared for a largely rural 318 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: and decentralized patient base. Yeah. That sort of helped her 319 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: form a model for her later work. UH In ninewe 320 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: Mary was ready to return home to be near her parents. 321 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: They were getting older and she definitely felt a poll 322 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: to be with them. She also felt that the programs 323 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: that she had worked to establish in France had reached 324 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 1: a point where they could continue without her, and she 325 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: felt that it was really important that they do so. 326 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: Like she was aware that she couldn't stay there and 327 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: direct all of this forever. She wasn't exactly sure what 328 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: she would do next, but she wrote in a letter 329 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: to her mother, quote, I know that the way leads 330 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:27,640 Speaker 1: back over the ocean to the country where my own 331 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,719 Speaker 1: children were born and where they are buried, the country 332 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,479 Speaker 1: whose development my own people have furthered for nearly two 333 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: hundred years. Despite this resolve, she actually felt really conflicted 334 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: about leaving France. There was pressure to stay and develop 335 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: nursing school programs for France, and for her last year 336 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: she worked tirelessly to fulfill this request, only to have 337 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: effort after effort fall flat. She felt in some ways 338 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: as though she had failed, but having friends and associates 339 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: remark on the incredible improvement of the health of France's 340 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: children really bolstered her, and next for going to delve 341 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: into the project that consumed the rest of Mary Breckenridge's life, 342 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: in which became her claim to fame. But before that, 343 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: let's take a little break and have a word for 344 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:16,240 Speaker 1: one of our sponsors. Once Mary was back in the 345 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,199 Speaker 1: United States, she again opted for additional education, and she 346 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: took classes at Teachers College of Columbia University that focused 347 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: on public health nursing. In Mary Breckenridge relocated to Leslie County, 348 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: Kentucky to try to make her idea a reality. She 349 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: had inherited money from her mother, who had passed away 350 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: not long after Mary returned to the United States. She 351 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: used her inheritance to found and fund the Frontier Nursing Service. 352 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: Her concentration for the service was on prenatal in early 353 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: childhood care, which harkened back to her experiences with the 354 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: families and post war France. She wrote quote in France, 355 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: I felt, as I was to feel later in the 356 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: Kentucky Mountains, that a program for children should begin before 357 00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: the children are born and should place emphasis on the 358 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: six years of life. So she chose the Appalachian Mountain 359 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: area for a number of reasons. I know some people 360 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: like to pronounce it Appalachian. We all do it differently. 361 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: This one is one where I'm good with what I like. 362 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: I grew up in North Carolina and spent seven years 363 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,639 Speaker 1: in western North Carolina, and I say Appalachian. Yeah, I 364 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,479 Speaker 1: mean I grew I was in Florida, and I think 365 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: I probably learned that word and they I was taught 366 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,959 Speaker 1: it as Appalachian. But no disrespect to anybody who prefers 367 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,919 Speaker 1: the other pronunciation, just saying, whichever way we say it, 368 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: somebody will be chagrined. Uh So she chose this area, 369 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: as I said, for a number of reasons. First, it 370 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: was woefully underserved medically and most of the residents were 371 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 1: too poor to travel elsewhere for care. Second, because her 372 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: family had Southern roots, she believed that she would be 373 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 1: able to use their prominence to garner funding for her program. 374 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: And third, she was kind of thinking long term, and 375 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: she thought if she could manage to launch a nursing 376 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: service successfully in the decentralized communities of the mountains, covering 377 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 1: roughly seven hundred square miles, it would be a clear 378 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: proof of concept that similar programs could work almost anywhere. 379 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: So to be clear, it wasn't as though Mary Breckinridge 380 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: was the first person in the United States to think 381 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: midwiffery should be instituted here. And as we said earlier, 382 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: there was more informal midwiffery going back generations. Even in 383 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 1: the area of Kentucky where she set up her service, 384 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: there were lay midwives who delivered babies like that has 385 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 1: been a thing pretty much always, but they didn't have 386 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: actual medical training. Yeah. I think they're referred to in uh. 387 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if it's her autobiography or another paper 388 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: that I was reading about her where they're called granny midwives. 389 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: And it's basically like, you know, an older experienced woman 390 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: who has been through childbirth herself and then kind of 391 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: helps later generations do the same thing well. And and 392 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:52,360 Speaker 1: when a birth goes smoothly, that's often fine, right, That's yes, 393 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: that's often the care that is needed is that kind 394 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: of help. But when things don't go smoothly, that you 395 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: want medical training, right yeah. Uh. And it was of 396 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:03,919 Speaker 1: course really hard to get this service up and running. 397 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: This was a mountain situation spread all over the place, 398 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,000 Speaker 1: but over time Mary established a home visitation service so 399 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: that patients could receive care without traveling themselves, as well 400 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: as a number of district nursing centers and eventually a hospital. 401 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: Mary's work had obvious results. After her service had been 402 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,400 Speaker 1: established and she had been providing education to nurse midwives 403 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: in Kentucky, the region's neo natal and maternal death rates dropped. 404 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,120 Speaker 1: In the f and s opened Heyden Hospital, which had 405 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: twelve beds. Thanks to money raised through donors, it soon 406 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: expanded to offer eighteen beds and eight bassonets, and an 407 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,479 Speaker 1: expansion in nineteen forty nine increased patient capacity to twenty 408 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,199 Speaker 1: five beds and twelve bassonets. As a direct result of 409 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: Mary's work and the success of the Frontier Nursing Service, 410 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: the American Association of Nurse Midwives was founded in nineteen 411 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,439 Speaker 1: twenty nine, just four years after breckon Ridge had founded 412 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: her service. In nineteen thirty one, Mary's cousin, Marvin Breckenridge Patterson, 413 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,439 Speaker 1: directed a film which was called The Forgotten Frontier, and 414 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,159 Speaker 1: it promoted the importance of the Frontier Nursing Service and 415 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,440 Speaker 1: the types of carrot offered. The film, which is silent, 416 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,360 Speaker 1: opens with title cards that read, quote, do you know 417 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: that America is still a frontier country for about fifteen 418 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: million people with almost no medical nursing or dental care, 419 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,919 Speaker 1: and that in our history we have lost more women 420 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: in childbirth than men in war according to that documentary, 421 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: and the maternal mortality rate and the Appalachian Mountains was 422 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: cut by more than two thirds thanks to the Frontier 423 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,639 Speaker 1: Nursing Service. Scenes in the film are re enactments of 424 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,199 Speaker 1: previous events played out by the same people who were 425 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: involved originally and volunteered to recreate moments in there from 426 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,400 Speaker 1: their interactions with the F and S. Yeah, the film 427 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: features shots of wind Over, which was the log cabin 428 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: that served as administrative building and nursing center and guest 429 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: quarters for the service, and it makes it very clear 430 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 1: just how remote the patients being served by this service were. 431 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,119 Speaker 1: Guests in the film arriving at the nearest train station 432 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: had to travel twenty five miles by car and then 433 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: switched to horses before they could get to that central 434 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: headquarters because the road ended abruptly and there was nothing 435 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: but trail after that. One of the visitors to the 436 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:16,760 Speaker 1: F and S asked how the nurses managed to get 437 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: to their patients during the winter, and the reply was, Oh, 438 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: it's our most important work, so of course we go 439 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: in any kind of weather. Nurses were shown on horseback 440 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:28,439 Speaker 1: crossing icy rivers in winter to deliver babies, and in 441 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: another scene, a man is carried on a makeshift stretcher 442 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: for seven hours to get to the hospital after receiving 443 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: a gunshot wound. You can actually watch this entire documentary online. 444 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: I will link to it. There's an archival version of 445 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: it that is available. And this documentary had a really 446 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: clear purpose. It wasn't just like a hey, this is neat. 447 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,679 Speaker 1: It was intended to help promote the frontier nursing service 448 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,879 Speaker 1: and more importantly, drum up donations. This entire enterprise was 449 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 1: privately funded from Mary's inheritance as we mentioned before, and 450 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: from donations, and while the f and S continued its 451 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 1: work over the next two decades, that remained how it 452 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: kept going through donations. It didn't receive any sort of 453 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,439 Speaker 1: government funding. I don't think until the nineteen sixties, no 454 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,639 Speaker 1: patient was ever turned away if they couldn't pay, but 455 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: they could offer a trade of goods for care. The 456 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: nurses were authorized to accept that. But if they could 457 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: offer nothing, they still got treatment. It seems like that 458 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: two thirds mortality drop from a promotional documentary might be 459 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: a little inflated, but still there was an obvious positive 460 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: impact in the nursing service. Yeah, it's a little tricky. 461 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: That's one of the things that it would be an 462 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,520 Speaker 1: easy number to fudge because a lot of the people 463 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: in those remote areas were not necessarily reporting things like 464 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: bursts and mortalities regularly to the government, So we don't 465 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: know how accurate. But I agree it seems a little 466 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: as a big number. Yeah, it is a big number, 467 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: but like unquestionably, having access to basic medical care that 468 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,160 Speaker 1: wasn't there before would have made a big difference. World 469 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,080 Speaker 1: War Two impacted the way in which the nurse s 470 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: for the FNS were trained. Before ninety nine, many of 471 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: the nurses were sent to Great Britain to train as midwives, 472 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: just as Mary herself had done, but the tensions in 473 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: Europe surrounding the war made that unsustainable, and it was 474 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: then that breck and Ridge founded the Frontier Graduate School 475 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,120 Speaker 1: of Midwiffery. The school continues today under the name Frontier 476 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: Nursing University. Yeah, obviously it has changed and evolved and modernized, 477 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: but it is still the the thing that has grown 478 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: out of that core entity. In ninety two, Mary published 479 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,639 Speaker 1: her autobiography, which was titled Wide Neighborhoods The Story of 480 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 1: the Frontier Nursing Service. Once again, this was at least 481 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: in part, a way to make money for the f 482 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: n S. The proceeds from the sale of the book 483 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: went right back into keeping the people of rural Kentucky 484 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: care for and educated about their health. Breck and Ridge 485 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: died on May sixteenth, nineteen sixty five, and Hyde in Kentucky. 486 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: She worked right up until the end. I mean she 487 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: literally she had fallen off a horse at one point 488 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: and had to wear a brace, but she still had 489 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: to keep riding the horses to get to her patients. 490 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: She was working basically until the day she died. Uh, 491 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: Which is all pretty inspirational. But we got to talk 492 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: about the problematic parts now. Um. While Breckenridge's contributions to 493 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: medicine or undeniable, she had some deeply problematic views. First, 494 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,399 Speaker 1: she was a fan of eugenics. From early on in 495 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: her career. She wrote articles for publications such as Southern 496 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: Woman's Magazine, in which she encouraged women to carefully select 497 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: their mates as only people of quote good blood should 498 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: be having children. Eugenics was by the nineteen teens gaining 499 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: popularity in the United States as a way to to 500 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: eradicate disease and infirmity. As if you haven't listened to 501 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: our podcast about the Calicacs and the eugenicists, Like, we 502 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,399 Speaker 1: talked a lot about how this this wasn't just something 503 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 1: that was a fringe element in society. It was like 504 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: a mainstream taught in standard high school biology textbooks kind 505 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,680 Speaker 1: of thing. So it is absolutely easy to see why 506 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: someone interested in nursing might have been into eugenics. But 507 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: the way most eugenicists in the United States envisioned these 508 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:08,439 Speaker 1: improvements was specifically through keeping the bloodlines pure without integration 509 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,480 Speaker 1: of immigrants into families. Breck and Ridge believed that women 510 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 1: in the US were duty bound to have healthy babies 511 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: to keep the country strong, and that to do so, 512 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: those babies had to be white, ideally white blood from 513 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:27,199 Speaker 1: Anglo Saxon roots. Yeah, she definitely had like a hierarchy 514 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:31,400 Speaker 1: of even people that would all be sort of umbrella 515 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 1: under white of which ones were the best kind of 516 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,840 Speaker 1: went Anglo Saxon, Nordic, and then kind of went down 517 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 1: from there. Like she really very clearly had no problems 518 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 1: comparing people and deciding which ones she thought were the 519 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: good ones and which ones were lesser. She also thought 520 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: that women couldn't be creative like men because their creativity 521 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: expressed itself biologically through making children. And while an official 522 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: stance on birth control wasn't included any any literature of 523 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: the Frontier Nursing Service, Mary Breckinridge believed that contraceptives weren't 524 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: as good a remedy for rural Kentucky's problems as education 525 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: would be. She had to personally approve any tubal legations 526 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: performed by the service, and even then she would only 527 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 1: do it if there was a medical reason or for 528 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: women who already had at least five children. Yeah, she 529 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: didn't seem to really get super involved in any of 530 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:31,560 Speaker 1: the politics surrounding other aspects of healthcare outside of like 531 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 1: maternal and children. And she even wrote that she thought 532 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: like birth control was interesting and that uh, you know, 533 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: that was that was good for some people, but not 534 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: for her patients, which is a little again, she's problematic. 535 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: Five years after Mary's death, ground was broken for a 536 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: new hospital to be built and named for her, and 537 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: the Mary Breckenridge Hospital was dedicated in nine so it 538 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: took a while to build, and it assumed the gen 539 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: oral care duties that had been handled previously at the 540 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: Hayden Hospital. And then the heightened facility was converted into 541 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: a teaching center, the Frontier School of Midwiffery and Family Nursing. 542 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: In Mary Breckinridge was posthumously inducted into the American the 543 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: American Nurses Association Hall of Fame. As often there were 544 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: thirty nine accredited graduate midwiffery programs in the United States 545 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: and more than eleven thousand certified midwives and certified nurse midwives. 546 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: So while she is considered the the sort of mother 547 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: of midwiffery in the United States, it really grew very 548 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: quickly and clearly. I mean it was addressing a need 549 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: that was there already. Other people were super interested in 550 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: really more than midwiffery. I feel like she should be 551 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: maybe lauded as a person who introduced medical like formalized 552 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: medical training in general. Uh, but that's Mary Breckinridge. Do 553 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: you have some listener mail for us to I do, 554 00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: and it made me smile really big when I read it, 555 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: So that's why you get it. It is from our 556 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: listener Debbie um and Debbie Rights. Dear Tracy and Holly. Hi. 557 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,240 Speaker 1: My name is Debbie and I love to listen to 558 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: your podcast while grading mounds of math homework, assuming that 559 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 1: the teenagers I teach actually turn in their homework. Thank 560 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: you for your well researched and entertaining stories to help 561 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: make grading not as monotonous. Your podcasts also feed my 562 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: insatia insatiable thirst for knowledge. I find myself sharing what 563 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: I learned from your podcast with colleagues, students, and my 564 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: friends and family regularly. The question how do you know 565 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: so much? Is asked of me by more people all 566 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,120 Speaker 1: the time, and I give you credit on at minimum 567 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: a weekly basis. I was just listening to your podcast 568 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: on Scaling Michael, and in it you talked about the 569 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: bee hives uh in their natural form peabloids. Those are 570 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,239 Speaker 1: the beehive huts that were on Scaling Michael. As a 571 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: fan of both large words and math, that was right 572 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: up my alley. That combined with the fact that this 573 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: island is a character in Star Wars, which is another 574 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: way I get my geek card on, will give my 575 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: students in math for Liberal Arts major something fun to 576 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: read about for their next Socratic discussion. Thank you, and 577 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: she also gives us a suggestion. Uh, Debbie, thank you 578 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: for being an educator and for you know, finding new 579 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: ways to connect things to students and get them excited 580 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,640 Speaker 1: about math, which I know is sometimes a struggle. I 581 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: was not always a great math student myself. Um and yeah. 582 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: I always love it when educators write us because it 583 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: gives me a chance to thank them for the work 584 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: they do, which sadly is often thankless and is, to 585 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: my mind, one of the most important jobs you could 586 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: possibly have. If you would like to write to us, 587 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: you can do so at History Podcast at house to 588 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: Works dot com. You can also find us across the 589 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: spectrum of social media as missed in History that includes Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, etcetera. 590 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: You can also visit us at missed in History dot com, 591 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: where we have an our kind of every episode of 592 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: the show that has ever existed, long before Tracy and 593 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: I were involved, and for the ones that have happened 594 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: since Tracy and I were involved. You'll also find show 595 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: notes in the occasional additional blog post. So come and 596 00:31:54,200 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: visit us at missed in History dot com for more 597 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Isn't housetop works 598 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: dot com.