What if, instead of going to the doctor, you received a visit from a nurse – on horseback? That’s how the nurses of the Frontier Nursing Service travelled to see their patients.
The patients lived in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. A hundred years ago, these communities were far from towns and hospitals. No one had a car, and railroad stations were miles away. When people got sick or had new babies, no doctor was close enough to help.
A nurse named Mary Breckinridge had been to Scotland, where nurses used bicycles to visit patients in their homes. She realized that nurses could do this for patients in the mountains, too – if they rode horses.
Mary started the Frontier Nursing Service in 1925. The nurses journeyed to homes and nursing centers
The patients lived in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. A hundred years ago, these communities were far from towns and hospitals. No one had a car, and railroad stations were miles away. When people got sick or had new babies, no doctor was close enough to help.
A nurse named Mary Breckinridge had been to Scotland, where nurses used bicycles to visit patients in their homes. She realized that nurses could do this for patients in the mountains, too – if they rode horses.
Mary started the Frontier Nursing Service in 1925. The nurses journeyed to homes and nursing centers