Jane Delano | |
---|---|
Born |
Montour Falls, New York |
March 13, 1862
Died | April 15, 1919 Savenay, Loire-Atlantique, France |
(aged 57)
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Nationality | United States |
Occupation | Nurse |
Jane Arminda Delano, born March 13, 1862 in Montour Falls, New York, United States – died April 15, 1919 in Savenay, Loire-Atlantique, France, was a nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service.
A descendant of one of the first settlers to America, Philippe de la Noye (Delano) (1602–1681) Jane Delano attended Cook Academy, a Baptist boarding school in her hometown then studied nursing at the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, where she graduated in 1886.
She started work in 1888 at a Jacksonville, Florida hospital treating victims of a yellow fever epidemic. There, she demonstrated her superior executive and administrative skills and developed innovative nursing procedures for the patients under her care. Leaving Florida, Jane Delano then spent three years nursing typhoid patients at a copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona until accepting an appointment as the Superintendent of Nurses at University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Jane Delano became a member of the New York Chapter of the American Red Cross and served as the secretary for the enrollment of nurses. In 1902 she returned to Bellevue Hospital in New York City as the director of the Training School for Nurses where she remained until 1909 when she was made Superintendent of the United States Army Nurse Corps. During this time, her invaluable contributions to her profession resulted in her being named president of the American Nurses Association and chair of the National Committee of the Red Cross Nursing Service.