Jane Arminda Delano
Personal Information
Born: 1862
Died: 1919
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Bellevue Hospital Training School for Nurses (now Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing) 1886
"Her reported last words were, “What about my work, I must get back to my work.” (womenshistory.org); “ . . . I can’t say that anything romantic or sentimental determined me to be a nurse,” she wrote with characteristic candor. “Many young nurses start out with the statement that the sight of suffering impelled them to begin a career of alleviating distress, but please don’t say that my career was ever influenced by such sentiment.” Her reason for becoming a nurse was simply “I think the nurse’s profession is a fine one, and I like it.” (redcross.org); "Nursing is not alone caring for the sick, the prevention of infection often constitutes as important a duty as the actual care of the patient. A woman who is without knowledge of the principles which should guide the performance of her work holds in her hands a capacity for doing infinite harm; she cannot avoid dangers which she does not recognize." (libquotes.com); "
— Jane Arminda Delano
Professional Life
Field of Study: Nursing
Institution/Corporation: Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing; American Red Cross; Red Cross Nursing Service; American National Red Cross Public Health Nursing Service
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Board of Directors American Journal of Nursing; National Committee of the Red Cross Nursing Service; American Red Cross (1898); American Nurses Association; Associated Alumnae; Daughters of the American Revolution
Awards & Achievements
Awards: Distinguished Service Medal; 1982 American Nurses Association Hall of Fame
Achievements: 1912 founder of American Red Cross Town & country Nursing Service; was superintendent of the Army Nurse corps; 1913 with Isabel McIsaac wrote a textbook & created courses in Elementary Hygiene & Home Care of the Sick; had superior executive & administrative skills
was related to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
her father died of yellow fever before she was born while fighting as a Union soldier during the Civil War
while superintendent of nursing at Sand Hills Hospital in Jacksonville Florida insisted on placing mosquito netting over the windows, patient care areas & nursing quarters even though the relationship between mosquitos & the disease hadn't been established yer
took care of patients in bisbee Arizona during a typhoid epidemic for 3 years
die in France while on an inspection trip of nurses & hospitals & was buried there for approximately 17 months before her body was exhumed & reburied in the nurses section of Arlington National Cemetery
approximately 500 nurses were in her funeral cortege in France
there is a statue of her with a commemorative plaque on the hill above the nurses section at Arlington National Cemetery
a number of her awards, medals & personal items are on display at Schuyler County Hospital in Dix New York
1990 the National Nursing Advisory Committee formed the Jane Delano society to ensure active nursing involvement at all levels of the Red Cross & to preserve artifacts that document the history of Red Cross nursing
1906-08 took 2 years off from her professional duties to care for her dying mother
1896 briefly attended medical school in buffalo New York but dropped out when she decided she would rather remain a nurse
1891-96 was Superintendent of Nurses at University Hospital in Philadelphia PA
1900-02 was superintendent at the House of Refuge, a home for wayward girls on Randall Island in New York city
1902-06 was Superintendent of the Training School for Nurses at Bellevue Hospital