Throughout the years, many women in the nursing field have been working to reach significant achievements while giving back important contributions to humanity.
Since 1976 the American Nurse Association (ANA) created the Hall of Fame Committee, where they would select which woman would have the honor of being part to the Hall of Fame.
The process happens every two years at ANA?s conventions when the Hall of Fame Committee selects a group of names recommended by the Hall of Fame. Then the ANA Board of Directors approves the recommendations and requests that the committee continues the work and adds new members to the Hall of Fame located in Washington, DC.
The committee established some criteria to all inductees to the ANA Hall of Fame: the nominee must have formal nursing preparation unless the contribution was made before 1873, when nursing program became available.
Women nominated must have worked in or represented the United States. They also must have demonstrated leadership in contributing to health and social history of the United States in areas such as education, administration, literature or economics in the nursing practice.
One of he first nurses inducted to the Hall of Fame was Lavinia Lloyd Dock in 1976. She is remembered for her contribution to nursing literature with her book ?Materia Medica for Nurses? one of the first textbooks, ?Hygiene and Morality and History of Nursing? (four volumes).
In 1984 Emilie Gleason Sargent was honored by being a part of this select group. In her dedicated work she contributed to the improvement of health care for the elderly and the chronically ill. In the same year, Estelle Massey Osborne, the first black nurse in the United States to earn a mater?s degree was also inducted. She always promoted opportunities for black nurses and that made her the winner of the Mary Mahoney Award.
Two years later, Sister Mary Berenice Beck was inducted. She was the first to receive a doctorate in nursing education given by the Catholic University of America. She was a leader in the American Nurses Association, served as dean of the Marquette University College of Nursing and was also a professor and the chair of the Department of Nursing of the Marquette Graduate School.
Mabel Keaton was another woman dedicated to break down the color barrier in nursing during the segregation era. She made efforts to improve the status of black nurses and promote the best health care for black people. She became a great heroine in the history of nurses and was honored with awards, certificates and citations. In her book ?No Time for Prejudice?, she recounts the obstacles in her fight for equal recognitions. She was inducted in 1996 too.
Florence Guinness Blake was a distinguished pediatric nurse dedicated to the advanced education in pediatric nursing. She wrote some books like ?The Child, His Parents and the Nurse? and was co-author of the ?Essential of Pediatric Nursing and Nursing Care of Children?. These became textbooks to pediatric nurse students and she was the winner of some awards. She was inducted to the Nurse Hall of Fame in 1996. She was an inspiration for many student nurses. She was a pioneer in advanced clinical education who left a legacy of knowledge for the care of children in the United States. She died in 1983.
One of the last people to be a part of the Hall of fame was Heath Cabaniss in 2002. She was a public health advocate that founded the Nurses Settlement of Richmond where dedicated care is provided for in the patients' homes. She also developed dispensaries for patients with tuberculosis.
In the Hall of Fame there are sixty women who have committed their lives to take care of sick people through the years. Each one gave the best and made great things. For these reasons they deserve the highest of recognitions.