May 12 is Florence Nightingale�s birthday. It is celebrated across the world as National Nurses Day. It is a day to honor the nurses in our lives, and in our communities who chose careers to help others.



May 12 is Florence Nightingale�s birthday. It is celebrated across the world as National Nurses Day. It is a day to honor the nurses in our lives, and in our communities who chose careers to help others.



At critical times throughout our lives nurses are there to provide comfort, support, education and caring.



With clinical knowledge, skilled hands and caring hearts nurses work in hospitals, long-term care facilities, health departments and many other agencies to lend a hand to those in need. Nurses who made significant contributions to Craven County were Josephine Bradham Burton and Charlotte Rhone.



On March 3, 1903, the North Carolina State Nurse Association (NCSNA) became the first nursing organization in the United States to successfully lobby the state legislature to pass a law addressing nurse registration. The new law restricted the title �Registered Nurse� to those who had studied nursing in a reputable hospital and successfully passed a state board examination.



After graduating from the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing, Josephine Bradham Burton (sister of Caleb Bradham, the New Bern pharmacist who invented Pepsi Cola) presented her credentials to the Craven County Clerk of Court and became the first Registered Nurse in the United States. In June of 1903 Nurse Charlotte Rhone registered her credentials with the Clerk of Court becomming the first African American Registered Nurse in the United States.



Josephine Bradham Burton and Charlotte Rhone were only two of many outstanding nurses who gave their time, talents, energy, compassion and sometimes even their lives in service to others.



The North Carolina Nursing History Council with the North Carolina Nurses Association supports research about North Carolina�s nursing past, present and future. You can read more about notable North Carolina nurses at www.nursinghistory.appstate.edu. If you know about other nurses who stories should be included on the website, please contact Phoebe Pollitt, RN at pollittpa@appstate.edu or Olivia Jenkins, MSN, RN at oliviajenkins19@yahoo.com.



Happy Nurses Week!