Martha E Rogers
Martha E Rogers was born a hundred years ago on March 3rd 1914 in Texas. She died March 13th 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona1. A casual occurrence, she shared her birthday with Florence Nightingale born 94 years before and had passed away four years before2. They will share more than a birthdate as we will see later namely the role of the nursing as distinct from medicine. One is helping nature while nursing puts the patient in the best environment for nature to act 3
Martha was born in a family which valued education and from an early age she was an avid reader challenging herself to read up to five books a week. She was an avid learner as well with no hesitation for the harder classes such as math and algebra. She ran in the first gender issue then as she was the only woman in that class.
She wanted to put her learning skills and knowledge towards contribution to social welfare hesitating between law and medicine and eventually opting for the later. She started in pre-med at the University of Tennessee (1931) but withdrew in 1933 under the pressure this was not a career deemed suitable for a woman. This was even told her by her parents. She eventually received a diploma from the Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing in 1936. Despite her being valedictorian of her class, her parents were not happy she did not have a degree and enrolled the George Peabody College in Nashville where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Nursing in 1937.
After graduation, she worked for the Children’s Fund of Michigan as public health nurse. Her work involved home visits, case finding giving vaccinations, planning and giving health teaching programs4.
She then decided to further her education by entering into a Master program at Columbia’s Teacher’s College in New York in 1939. She would graduate in 1945 having worked at the Visiting Nurse Association in Harford CT culminating her involvement there as acting Director of Education. Upon graduation in 1945, she took
Martha was born in a family which valued education and from an early age she was an avid reader challenging herself to read up to five books a week. She was an avid learner as well with no hesitation for the harder classes such as math and algebra. She ran in the first gender issue then as she was the only woman in that class.
She wanted to put her learning skills and knowledge towards contribution to social welfare hesitating between law and medicine and eventually opting for the later. She started in pre-med at the University of Tennessee (1931) but withdrew in 1933 under the pressure this was not a career deemed suitable for a woman. This was even told her by her parents. She eventually received a diploma from the Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing in 1936. Despite her being valedictorian of her class, her parents were not happy she did not have a degree and enrolled the George Peabody College in Nashville where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Nursing in 1937.
After graduation, she worked for the Children’s Fund of Michigan as public health nurse. Her work involved home visits, case finding giving vaccinations, planning and giving health teaching programs4.
She then decided to further her education by entering into a Master program at Columbia’s Teacher’s College in New York in 1939. She would graduate in 1945 having worked at the Visiting Nurse Association in Harford CT culminating her involvement there as acting Director of Education. Upon graduation in 1945, she took