Nursing 100 years of excellence

Nursing from past to present

February 4, 1922

Published in the Emporia Gazette

Miss Cora A. Miller, Superintendent of the new Lyon County Hospital, will begin at once enrolling prospective students for the training school for nurses to be offered at the hospital. The applicants should be at least 18 years old…should have had one year of high school or its equivalent – high school graduates preferred…should be of good moral character and of good physical and mental health. Those are state requirements

The training school will train young women thoroughly in every department. Young women of experience and competence, graduates of hospitals of high standing will be selected supervisors of departments. The course training will cover at least two years and six months. Six weeks vacation may be included in this time.

The Lyon County Hospital is one of the best equipped institutions in Kansas…Many departments of nursing, welfare and hospital positions are calling for competent nurses at attractive salaries. One of the most appalling needs of this country is for nurses. From Christian, humanitarian or philanthropic viewpoints, a broad field is before us. May this training center give to the state and to the world young women nurses of whom Emporia will be proud.

March 1, 1922

First class of 5 students admitted to the Newman Memorial County Hospital Training School for Nurses. All who applied were admitted. School accredited by the Kansas State Board for Examination and Registration of Nurses, March 1922.

March 4, 1922

Newman Memorial County Hospital opened to the public.

First year – 1922

Student nurses (27) admitted to the school: 10 of the 27 students graduated. Loss of students usually averaged about 50%. According to Miss Cora Miller, “…this training school was misused for a boarding school to tide over the period from high school graduation to the day of marriage.”

The school had a faculty of 5 nurses. All hospital supervisors were expected to be “teaching supervisors.” Modern Methods in Nursing was the only nursing “technic” book available.

Student uniforms were selected by Mrs. Willian Allen White. The color of tan was chosen since it blended with the walls of the hospital. Female students lived on the first floor of the hospital. Male students occupied two basement rooms.

An Affiliation with the College of Emporia to provide a combined “College Nurses” course giving the student an A.B. degree at the end of a five-year period of study and completion of the nurses course.

June 4, 1924

First Graduation (2 students)

David R. Davis was the first student to graduate from the training school. He later graduated from medical school and practiced medicine in Emporia. The other graduate was Lila L. Loveless. The two students graduated early because they already had college courses (Davis) or had transferred from another nursing program.

1971

Cora Miller Hall was completed. Funds for the new building we raised through the sale of Lyon County bonds, a Federal Housing and Urban Development allocation and a grant from the Federal Housing Education and Welfare Agency.

May 1993

Graduation exercises were held for 32 student nurse graduates from the last class of Newman Hospital School of Nursing.

March 1990

A proposal between ESU and Newman Memorial County Hospital to develop a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at ESU was approved by KBOR on March 22, 1990. This cooperative and collaborative effort resulted in the Newman Division of Nursing, a division within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Initial approval from the Kansas State Board of Nursing was obtained in 1990 and has continued since that time. The Division admitted its first class in August 1992 and graduated its first class in May 1995. Since April 1996, the program has been accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission.