Rama Walker is passionate about caring for people, and as a nurse leader, she has the privilege of caring for people whose career is caretaking.
Walker advocates for nurses and women, pushing them to be their best version. She knows better than anyone that nurses are innovative, caring, resilient, and well-rounded individuals who can adapt and thrive in challenging environments.
As a seasoned nurse with over 14 years of experience, Walker brings a unique perspective to her role as the Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Nurseify.
The series highlights healthcare leaders who are prominent figures in their organizations and are making transformational impacts in nursing.
Meet Rama Walker, CNO and COO of Nurseify, Inc.
Talk about your role in nursing.
I started my career in home health and quickly advanced into leadership after a few months. I have always known that I had a ‘big picture’ mindset and wanted to support the team in patient care. Before joining Nurseify, I most recently served as the administrator and led facility operations for two freestanding emergency rooms for HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast, which performed over 38,000 patient visits yearly. I have also held clinical leadership roles at HCA Houston Healthcare West and other healthcare organizations in the Houston market.
How long have you worked in the nursing field?
I have been a nurse for over 16 years and still cannot believe how much time has passed.
Why did you become a nurse?
I have always been nurturing toward others. I figured out early on that the key to a happy life is doing something that combines your passion, purpose, and skills. I was fortunate enough to find that in nursing. When I was in high school, I was in HOSA-Future Health Professionals. It was a program that exposed us to different careers in the healthcare field. I went in wanting to be a pediatrician and came out knowing wholeheartedly that I was meant to be a nurse.
What are the most important attributes of today’s nursing leaders?
Today’s nursing leaders need to be resilient, innovative, and caring. Healthcare is a dynamic environment, and these attributes will allow the nurse leader to find success and longevity.
What does being a nursing leader mean to you, and what are you most proud of?
Being a nurse leader allows me to take care of the people that take care of the people. I serve my nursing team and remove barriers so they can focus on providing high-quality care to their patients or whomever they serve.
Tell us about your career path and how you ascended to that role.
I began my career as a staff nurse in home health and quickly learned the clinical side of nursing and the operational side. During this time, I discovered my passion for being a clinician and developed a strong interest in understanding how everything worked together. I was fascinated with the interdisciplinary team. I then went on to outpatient care and progressed there in my leadership journey.
In addition to overseeing clinical operations, I took charge of a department that involved budget management and marketing strategies to enhance patient volume. These skills proved invaluable when I assumed the role of an administrator for two freestanding emergency rooms. I serve as both the Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Nurseify, an on-demand, gig-nurses marketplace. Nurseify facilitates nurses in sharing their experience and availability with healthcare facilities while also granting these facilities direct access to nurses who meet their specific clinical assignment requirements.
What is the most significant challenge facing nursing today?
The most significant challenge facing nursing today is creating and sustaining healthy work environments. It is a challenge that impacts all the threats we face in nursing: violence towards nurses, nurse burnout, inadequate staffing, and high turnover rates.
As a nursing leader, how are you working to overcome this challenge?
I work towards this by promoting self-care and work-life balance and partnering with key stakeholders regarding safe staffing. Furthermore, in partnership with Nurseify, I am committed to providing and enhancing ongoing education and professional development for myself and the nursing community.
What nursing leader inspires you the most and why?
Throughout my career, I have encountered so many great leaders that choosing the most inspirational one is incredibly challenging. What stood out to me the most about these individuals was their ability to lead with poise in the face of adversity and skillfully advocate the needs of the clinicians they served with empathy and knowledge.
What inspirational message would you like to share with the next generation of nurses?
Nursing is, and has been, the most honorable profession. We provide comfort, support, and care to those who cross our paths, so it is important to remember that in all you do. Additionally, continue to invest in your well-being by being intentional with self-care and staying committed to lifelong learning.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
With all we have accomplished as a nursing community, we can continue to do much more when we work together and advocate for critical issues. We have an essential responsibility to share our unique perspectives that can contribute to positive change in our profession.
Marilyn “Nia” Wright, MSN, MHA, RN, CNOR, is a retired nurse who can’t stay away from the industry she loves.
As a nurse student, Wright was nicknamed Nia, an acronym for Nurse in Action, because she was eager to care for people and often volunteered to do whatever she could for as many patients as she could, whether or not those patients were part of her assignment. Wright exemplified this enthusiasm throughout her entire career.
Wright is an author, teacher, international speaker, and nationally certified nurse and was recently named a 2022 Nurse of the Year for the state of Maryland by the Maryland Hospital Association and The Daily Record.
She retired from her position as senior nursing director of one of the largest and busiest surgical services in Maryland at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center (LHAAMC) after serving in that role for over a decade.
Wright is a passionate, enthusiastic advocate for the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, serving for four years as the co-chair of the Cultural Diversity and Workplace Advocacy Nursing Initiative and was instrumental in expanding the committee’s membership to include members from the community as well as other hospital departments. As a result, the initiative’s name was changed to the Cultural Diversity and Workplace Advocacy Collaborative, and in 2018 Wright became the Executive Sponsor of the Collaborative.
She was also the executive sponsor and founding member of the African American Business Resource Group, a Luminis Health grassroots endeavor formed by employees across all demographics focused on creating a welcoming environment for underrepresented demographics and removing barriers that impact diversity, equity, and inclusion in the healthcare system.
Wright now serves as senior justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) consultant for Luminis Health. Her philosophy is that diversity is a valuable asset to any organization, allowing for creativity and productivity that incorporates multiple perspectives and perceptions and enabling the organization to cast a wider net and meet the needs of a larger population, including the employees themselves.
The series highlights healthcare leaders who are prominent figures in their organizations and are making transformational impacts in nursing.
Meet Nia Wright, MSN MHA RN CNOR, Senior Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion consultant for Luminis Health.
Talk about the roles you held in nursing.
I started as a staff nurse on a med/surg unit in 1979. Through the years, I have progressed in leadership roles to continuously improve the patient’s care and the support and shared governance of the clinicians and support staff.
How long have you worked in the nursing field?
45 years.
Why did you become a nurse?
I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was seven. As a child, I was prone to upper respiratory infections; the nurses were always kind and gentle and made me feel better. I knew I wanted to be like them. I was that little girl with the nurse’s bag who bandaged my dolls and my friends if they had little cuts or scrapes. So I wanted to do anything I could do to help people heal and feel better.
What are the most important attributes of today’s nursing leaders?
Caring for the caregivers, fostering resilience, and leading by example regarding self-care. Nursing leaders must Look for opportunities to ensure shared governance and support their staff’s professional growth.
What does being a nursing leader mean to you, and what are you most proud of?
Being a nurse leader means providing strategic direction, tactical operations guidance, resources, and support to the nurses and all of the members of my team of healthcare associates. I am most proud of how I led my team during the pandemic with caring, compassion, transparency, tenacity, and resilience.
Tell us about your career path and how you ascended to that role.
My career path has been one of progressive leadership in education and management. I have served as a preceptor, educator, and clinical specialist. Honestly, the leadership roles chose me. I’ve always been the kind of person to see a problem and want to solve it. I offered suggestions to resolve issues. My first leadership role was as assistant head nurse of otolaryngology. I transitioned from med/surg nursing to the operating room, and my leadership path began as a team lead of Ophthalmology. I progressed to a clinical manager, assistant director, director, and senior director through the years. In each role, I endeavored to incorporate others in the decision-making process. I believe that each of us, regardless of title or job category, has something to offer to improve and enhance the care we provide continuously. The leader’s role is to tap into each team member’s knowledge, talents, and skills, enable them to do their best, empower them to be change agents, and help them grow professionally.
What is the most significant challenge facing nursing today?
The most significant challenge facing nursing today is the stress of the job. The stress originates from staffing challenges that include re-designing staffing structures, such as re-visiting the team nursing model and adding licensed practical nurses to personal life challenges.
As a nursing leader, how are you working to overcome this challenge?
As a nurse leader, I must ensure my staff knows I support them. Just as the challenge is multi-faceted, so is the approach to resolution. I worked with the staff and leaders to revise the on-call program, which gave the team more control over their schedules and reduced the number of on-call shifts. We worked together. That’s the key. I had an open door policy so that staff and leaders knew they could come by to discuss a personal or professional concern confidentially. I always encouraged them to practice self-care. If they did what was best for them to thrive, it would positively influence the care provided to the patients and the other team members, and the work environment.
How are you helping advocate for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace?
Previously, I established a platform for open, honest dialogue on diversity and inclusion issues. As a result, Luminis Health became the first Healthcare System to sponsor a local chapter of Coming To The Table – a national organization focused on healing the wounds of inequity caused by racism. The Luminis Health chapter seeks to heal the wounds of all biases and injustices. As the first executive sponsor of the Cultural Diversity and Workplace Advocacy Collaborative, I led many informative and interactive educational events to heighten awareness of the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of the organization.
Tell us about your new role as the Senior Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) consultant for Luminis Health.
I work with the various Business Resource Groups (ex. LGBTQIA), Inclusion Groups (ex. Counter Racism Task Force), Human Resources partners, and leadership in providing guidance, being a sounding board, offering assistance with seeing concerns through the lens of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, provide group and individual education, assist with policy development and revisions, analyze metrics that measure our JEDI progress and collaborate with leaders and staff in developing strategic plans and goals for our Luminis Health JEDI Journey.
What nursing leader inspires you the most and why?
Today, I am most inspired by the president of Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center, Deneen Richmond, MHA RN. She is a nurse who has been a stalwart advocate for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout her career. She is a formidable force, particularly in quality and population health. She is well respected by her peers and those she supports. Additionally, Deneen is an African American woman who graduated from my alma mater, the University of the District of Columbia. She is a stellar example of how true grit and determination can make a difference in the communities we serve and the industry we love.
What inspirational message would you like to share with the next generation of nurses?
You are in the world’s most trusted profession. Your work is vitally important. So stay in the driver’s seat. Let your voice be heard. Advocate for your patients, your community, and yourself.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
My professional mantra for over forty years has been, “I touch the world one person at a time. I make a difference in people’s lives every day… I am a nurse.”
When we reflect on nursing, we don’t always consider the concept of justice.
We may think about patients, patient care, medications, interventions, and hospitals, but justice might seem like the purview of lawyers, legislators, activists, human service agencies, and non-profit organizations. However, nursing and justice are more closely related than we think; thus, linking them in our consciousness is an important consideration.
Social Determinants of Health
In some nursing programs, the concept of social determinants of health (SDOH) is taught from the very early stages of student nurses’ education, and the relationship between SDOHs and justice is quite apparent. This CDC definition is as good as any when it comes to clarifying what constitutes an SDOH:
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, racism, climate change, and political systems.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer us another prism through which to view the lives of human beings around the world. The SDGs include broad areas of concern such as good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, and eradicating poverty and hunger, all of which can be seen as related to justice in the broadest sense.
Regarding the 17 SDGs, the UN asserts that “ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”
The ability of citizens around the world to live healthy, productive lives could not be more crucial, and access to healthcare, education, nutritious food, proper housing, and a clean environment are all aspects of achieving such a life. But what do nurses and nursing have to do with such seemingly disparate yet necessary issues regarding justice and equality for all citizens?
Healthcare Doesn’t Happen in a Vacuum
When a patient attends a medical appointment, their presenting issue might be diabetes, hypertension, or asthma. However, we often miss the point when we simplify health and healthcare down to solely the bare bones of a medical diagnosis. For example, a diabetic patient who doesn’t drive may not live in a food desert since they live within walking distance of a bodega or convenience store. Still, they live in a nutrient desert since they lack access to any appreciable nutrient density and quality food.
A child who lives in a part of the city where lead pipes are an incomprehensible reality (e.g., Flint, Michigan) or factory smoke and toxic waste are prevalent (e.g., any number of poor neighborhoods in American cities) may suffer from learning disabilities, asthma, or even cancer that may have otherwise been preventable but for egregious environmental insults.
Is it just that toxic waste is more likely to be stored in poor neighborhoods than in affluent ones? Is there anything but injustice in that an economically disadvantaged child ingests unclean water and air while their wealthy counterparts across town are spared? Is there any reason racial disparities in healthcare delivery are tolerable in our society?
Patients’ diagnoses and health outcomes can often be directly linked to injustices that are shamefully visited upon certain groups. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are responsible for remaining aware of how multiple factors weigh heavily on the health of myriad communities.
Leveraging Nurse-led Solutions
As the most trusted professionals in the United States year after year, nurses are uniquely positioned to leverage their influence for the good of the whole. Letters to the editor, podcasts, articles, blog posts, social media, and other means can be utilized by nurses to make their voices heard. Nurses can meet with local, state, and national legislators, lobby for bills geared towards many aspects of justice, be it in the realm of healthcare or otherwise.
Organizations like the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE) champion causes that are urgent public health matters. For example, on the legislative side, the non-profit and non-partisan Healing Politics “inspire[s], motivate[s], recruit[s], and train[s] nurses and midwives to run for elected office up and down the ballot while building a culture of civic engagement within the professions.”
The intersectionality of justice, nursing, and healthcare is multifaceted, and nurses can choose to be powerful voices within the chorus of those demanding change. Justice comes in many forms, and nurses can decide how they weigh in on issues that directly impact how justice — or the lack thereof — manifests in this country and the broader world around us.
Minority Nurse is thrilled to feature Keith Carlson, “Nurse Keith,” a well-known nurse career coach and podcaster of The Nurse Keith Show as a guest columnist. Check back every other Thursday for Keith’s column.
Welcome to part two of Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series – Mabel Leilani Smyth,First Hawaiian Registered Nurse with Hawaiian ancestry, often referred to as “Hawaiʻi’s Florence Nightingale.”
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Minority Nurse is republishing the Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series from October 2022.
Hawai’i’ is one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse places on Earth. This rich blend is reflective of its nursing history. Pioneer Registered Nurses in Hawaii include nurses of Native Hawaiian, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino heritage. Their lives and work create a beautiful kaleidoscope of service that has improved the lives of residents in this tropical paradise for over 100 years. The life stories of three groundbreaking Hawaiian RNs can inspire us all.
Mabel Leilani Smyth 1892 – 1936 First Hawaiian Registered Nurse with Hawaiian Ancestry “Hawaiʻi’s Florence Nightingale”
Mabel Leilani Smyth was born in Honolulu on September 1. 1892, to Julia Goo and Halford Hamill Smyth. Like many Hawai’ians, she had an ethnically mixed lineage. Smyth’s ancestors included people from Hawai’i, England, China, and Ireland. Smyth’s older sister Eva was born visually impaired, and from a young age, Mabel was Eva’s companion and guide while her mother tended to the three younger children and her father was at sea. Caring for her sister foreshadowed a lifetime of caring for others.
Smyth spent her childhood on her mother’s Kona coffee farm in Hawaii. All the Smyth children worked hard picking and cleaning coffee beans and cultivating and pounding taro root to make poi, a national dish of Hawai’i. Julia Smyth earned additional money weaving and selling lauhala hats. The family was trilingual, speaking Hawaiian, English, and Pidgin in the home. Being fluent in three languages helped her cross racial and ethnic boundaries and gain acceptance in multiple communities. After Smyth’s father died around 1907, the family moved to the Palama neighborhood, a suburb of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. In 1910, Smyth graduated from President William McKinley High School and began working as a nanny for the Rath family.
Mabel Smyth Begins Career as a Nurse
James and Ragna Rath, Caucasian social workers, moved from Massachusetts to Hawaii in 1905 for James to direct the Palama Settlement, a multifaceted community service agency. In 1900 at least five cases of bubonic plague were reported in the Chinatown section of Honolulu. To eradicate the threat, city officials decided to burn the homes of the plague victims. Unfortunately, the fire burned out of control, destroying at least four blocks of Chinatown. As a result, thousands of recent impoverished immigrants were homeless, and many lost their jobs and businesses. The Central Union Church created the Palama Settlement (PS) in response to these dire conditions. Church officials founded and supported many programs, including visiting nurses, a pure milk station, a day camp for children with tuberculosis, an adult night school where English lessons were taught, a day care center for working mothers, and a swimming pool with hot showers. James Rath was busy overseeing these efforts, and Regna Rath worked by his side. The Raths had five children and needed at-home childcare, so they hired Mabel Smyth.
In 1912 the Raths took their five children and Smyth to Massachusetts for a sabbatical. Before the Raths returned to Honolulu, they encouraged and arranged for payment for Smyth to attend the Springfield Hospital Training School for Nurses. Upon her graduation in 1915, Smyth returned to her family in Honolulu. She spent two years as the “agent” of the Hawaiian Humane Society. The Society had a mission to relieve suffering wherever it was found – among children, animals, and even battered wives. Smyth left the Society to become the first nursing supervisor at the PS. Organizationally, the PS divided the city of Honolulu into seven districts, with a nurse assigned to each. Each nurse was responsible for providing their district school nursing, home visiting, and clinic hours. At age 26, Smyth oversaw the entire nursing program.
Mabel Leilani Smyth was the first Hawaiian Registered Nurse with Hawaiian ancestry, often referred to as “Hawaiʻi’s Florence Nightingale”
Smyth is First Hawaiian Nurse to Earn Advanced Certificate in Nursing
Smyth took a year off from the PS, from August 1921 to August 1922, to pursue graduate work in public health nursing at Simmons College in Boston. She was the first Hawaiian nurse to earn an advanced certificate in nursing. After her year of graduate studies, she continued her supervisory work at PS until 1927, when she accepted a position with the Territorial Board of Health as the first Director of the Public Nursing Service for the Territory of Hawaii. Up to that time, the Board of Health had hired nurses in either tuberculosis work or maternal child health work. Under her leadership, these programs merged and expanded to create a generalized public health nursing program covering all the islands in the Territory. Two years later, the nurses at the PS came under the auspices of the Department of Public Health Nursing to better coordinate care and reduced duplication of services.
Smyth gave many lectures to community and professional groups on the islands to increase public understanding and support for public health nursing. She successfully strove to upgrade lay midwives’ skills and standards, instituted immunization drives against diphtheria, coordinated chest x-ray screenings for TB, organized well-baby clinics across the islands, and represented Hawaii at several national public health meetings on the mainland.
In addition to her work, Smyth was a leader in professional nursing organizations. She was a charter member of the Nurse Association of the Territory of Hawaii when it was formed in 1920 and then elected president of the organization in 1925 and 1932. Smyth was also president of the City and County of Honolulu Nurses Association, a leader of the Honolulu Chapter of the American Red Cross, and a member of the Board of Registration of Nurses from 1925 to 1935. In 1926, Smyth was a small group of nurses who created a public health nursing course at the University of Hawaii to prepare nurses who wanted to practice public health nursing.
Hawaiian Florence Nightingale
Sadly, Smyth’s life was cut short at the young age of 43 after spending half her life serving others. A sewing needle had been lodged in her chest since she was a child. On March 24, 1936, she underwent an operation to remove the needle and tragically died of a post-surgical embolism that same day.
Smyth was widely mourned both in Hawaii and in the nursing community. Her obituary in the American Journal of Nursing read in part:
Endowed with charm and a dynamic personality, she had attained a high position in the ranks of Hawaiian women of achievement. Through her devotion, sympathy, keen sense of community responsibility, spirit of cooperation, and intelligently directed energy, Miss Smyth was, at the time of her untimely death, at the very height of her powers, the outstanding leader in nursing in the Territory of Hawaii.
After her death, a committee was formed to establish a memorial to the “Hawaiian Florence Nightingale.” It raised over $110,000 for the Mabel Smyth Memorial Building, with over 4,000 people contributing. The building was dedicated on January 4, 1941, with Hawaiian chants and music. It housed offices of the medical and nursing professional organization on the island, classrooms, a library, and an auditorium. The building was a fitting memorial to a nurse who did so much for her family, neighbors, and all Hawaiians.
Check back next week for part 3 of the Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series – Alice Ting Hong Young, Hawaii’s First Nurse Midwife.
Welcome to part one of Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series – Mabel Isabel Wilcox, First Registered Nurse in Hawaii.
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Minority Nurse is republishing the Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series from October 2022.
Hawai’i’ is one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse places on Earth. This rich blend is reflective of its nursing history. Pioneer Registered Nurses in Hawaii include nurses of Native Hawaiian, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino heritage. Their lives and work create a beautiful kaleidoscope of service that has improved the lives of residents in this tropical paradise for over 100 years. The life stories of three groundbreaking Hawaiian RNs can inspire us all.
Mabel Isabel Wilcox 1882-1978 First Registered Nurse in Hawaii
The first Registered Nurse in Hawaii was Mabel Isabel Wilcox. Her maternal (David and Sarah Lyman) and paternal (Abner and Lucy Wilcox) grandparents were Caucasian Christian missionaries who traveled from New England to the Kingdom of Hawaii in the 1830s to establish schools and preach the Gospel.
Mabel was born on the island of Kauai on November 4, 1882, to the Wilcox’s son Samuel and the Lyman’s daughter Emma. She remembered a carefree childhood in a family that valued religion, philanthropy, education, and public service. When Wilcox was in her teens, there were no college preparatory high schools in Hawaii, so her parents sent her to California to complete her high school education. However, she stayed on the mainland, and in 1911 she graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore and passed her Registered Nurse examinations. Soon after graduation, Wilcox returned to Hawaii and began her career as the resident school nurse at the Kawaiahao Seminary, a Congregational Church-sponsored girls’ school in Honolulu, becoming the first Registered Nurse in Hawaii.
An early photo of Mabel Wilcox Hawaii’s first Registered Nurse
Earned the Moniker “Kauku Wilikoki”
Wilcox missed her extended family on Kauai, so in 1913 she accepted an assignment to begin and head the Territorial Board of Health’s anti-tuberculosis (TB) campaign on the island. She was the only Board of Health nurse on the island and served approximately 5,000 people. Often on foot or horseback, she did case investigations, collected sputum samples, educated the community about the disease, and provided follow-up care to those diagnosed with TB. Wilcox quickly saw the need for a TB Hospital on Kauai. She convinced service clubs and business organizations on the island to support her idea and solicited most of the funds needed from her aunt and uncle, Emma and Albert Wilcox. After a year of construction, the Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital opened in 1917.
Although Wilcox was hired to reduce the number of tuberculosis cases on Kauai, in 1920, Hawaii reported a 25% infant mortality rate, double that of the mainland. In addition, there were no maternal/infant health nursing programs on Kauai, so Wilcox added education on nutrition, sanitation, and healthy birthing practices to her rounds when she encountered pregnant women and young children. As a result, she earned the moniker “Kauku Wilikoki” or Doctor Wilcox for her work.
As soon as the U.S entered WWI in April 1917, Wilcox was anxious to do her part. She wrote the American Red Cross nursing service requesting an overseas assignment. Her work with maternal/child health in Hawaii gave her knowledge and experiences she would draw on during her war years.
Nurse Behind the Lines During WWI
Beginning in the winter of 1918, Wilcox was the Head Nurse of a hospital and outpatient clinic for women and children in Le Havre, France. The facility was relatively safe miles from the battlefront lines when Wilcox arrived. After that, however, the fighting grew closer. In September of 1918, Wilcox was sent into nearby Belgium, directly behind the advancing Allied troops, to inspect maternal and child health conditions and conduct clinics. While there during the final Allied campaign, she wrote to her family: “One night we were bombed, crawled under the bed, two of us trying to get into one helmet. Scared.” After the war ended, Wilcox spent another year in France helping mothers and children, many of whom were orphaned or refugees. Once the French government was stable enough to take over her work, she returned to Hawaii. She was awarded medals from the Queen of Belgium and the mayor of Le Havre for her service.
Kauai’s First Territorial Maternity and Child Health Hygiene Nurse
In 1921 Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Act providing funds for maternal-child health programs. With these new monies, Wilcox was hired as Kauai’s first Territorial Maternity and Child Health Hygiene Nurse to focus full-time on improving the health of women and children. As they began hiring more nurses, she became the Supervising Nurse, a position she held until her retirement in 1935. In the first year, public health nurses made nearly 1,000 home visits, and newly organized “demonstration clinics” recorded an attendance of 4,403 mothers. Infant mortality dropped by 14% in the first year of the program. The program successfully provided care to 8,398 mothers and infants in 1927.
Congress discontinued funding the Sheppard-Towner programs in 1929. Then in 1930, Wilcox became the supervisor of the new generalized public health nursing program on Kauai. She oversaw tuberculosis, maternal-child health, and school and home health nursing programs on the island. During this time, Wilcox was a leader in many professional associations. She launched the Kauai Nurses Association, served as its first president from 1932-1946, served as the first executive director of the Kauai TB Association, and was on the Board of the Mahelona Hospital.
G.N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital
On Kauai, many sugar plantations maintained small, often inadequate, hospitals for their workers and families. After Wilcox’s father and mother died (1929 and 1934, respectively), she and her siblings decided to build a new, modern general hospital in their memory. She retired in 1935 and spent her time and energy making the G.N. Wilcox Memorial Hospital a reality for the next few years. It was dedicated on November 1, 1938, with 96 beds in wards and semi-private private rooms, 17 physicians and 50 employees, and 14 graduate nurses. The hospital provided more than 10,000 days of care in the first year of operation.
Upon Wilcox’s retirement, Mabel Smyth, RN, the Head Nurse of the Territorial Board of Health, wrote a tribute to her in The Pacific Coast Journal of Nursing.
It read in part: “With clarity of purpose and wisdom in leadership Miss Wilcox has developed an unusual spirit of loyalty and devotion among her corps of nurses and superiors … every nurse … on the island turns to her for inspiration and leadership in matters pertaining to individual and community well-being.” (Smyth, M, “Public Health Nursing in Hawaii: A Tribute to Mabel I. Wilcox,” (1935) The Pacific Coast Journal of Nursing, 297-98).
Mabel Wilcox circa 1911 and 1951
Influence of Wilcox Lives On
In her late 50s and 60s, Wilcox stayed active with the Wilcox Hospital in an unpaid capacity. She served on the hospital board, raised money for expansions, and recruited nurses. During this time, Wilcox also became very interested in historic preservation. Because both sides of her family tree had been missionaries and plantation owners in Hawaii for over 125 years, she and her living siblings began restoration efforts to preserve their ancestral homes and papers. Today the Waiolo Mission House, the Lyman House Memorial, and Grove Farm all stand as testimonies to their efforts, as do many manuscripts, records, and correspondence housed at the Grove Farm library.
After years of declining health, Wilcox died on December 27, 1978, at age 96. Before her death, the Kauai Tuberculosis Society honored her with these words: Through the years, there has been little in the health and welfare fields on this island that does not owe its beginnings to Miss Wilcox’s vision and active support. Her scope has been not only island-wide but territorial and even national.
Wilcox is is buried on her beloved Kauai Island.
Check back next week for part 2 of the Three Trailblazing Hawaiian Nurses blog series – Mabel Leilani Smyth, First Hawaiian Registered Nurse with Hawaiian Ancestry.
Nurses from underrepresented groups in nursing who are interested in leadership are invited to apply for the Academy for Diverse Aspiring Nurse Leaders to be held at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing July 17-19, 2023. The academy is for those with more than three years of nursing experience and not yet in healthcare or academia leadership roles.
The unique leadership development program is led by experienced leaders from diverse backgrounds committed to equipping nurses for future leadership roles. I
The Academy for Diverse Aspiring Nurse Leaders was created by the Vanderbilt School of Nursing and Vanderbilt University Medical Center to serve the needs of nurses from underrepresented groups in nursing leadership and/or those committed to expanding and supporting diversity in nursing leadership.
“If you’re a registered nurse, advanced practice nurse, nurse educator, case manager, or nurse informaticist, this program will help you develop a career plan and toolkit for future leadership roles,” says Mamie Williams, PhD, senior director for nurse diversity and inclusion at VUMC and academy co-director.
The Academy for Diverse Aspiring Nurse Leaders is a companion event to Vanderbilt’s highly successful Academy for Diverse Emerging Nurse Leaders for nurses who have been in academia or healthcare leadership for less than three years.
“Participants called that program ‘life-changing,’ ‘transformative,’ ‘profound,’ and ‘the most meaningful and impactful thing I have participated in,” says Rolanda Johnson, PhD, VUSN associate dean of equity, diversity and inclusion and academy co-director. “They felt strongly that learning how to be a successful diverse leader at an earlier stage in their careers would have been valuable and suggested the creation of a similar program for nurses who aspire to leadership.”
Spots are limited, so applicants are encouraged to apply by May 31.
