Born: July 27, 1841,
Potsdam, New York
Died: April 16, 1930,
Grafton, Massachusetts
"I'll show you where the Training School Office is," Dr. Clayton said.
--From Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, p. 19
The first trained nurse in the United States, Linda Richards became superintendent of a training school in Boston and helped establish a nursing school in Japan.
Highlights
After ten years as a schoolteacher, Linda Richards began working as a nurse at Boston City Hospital in 1870.
In 1872, she enrolled in a one-year course, based on the principles established by Florence Nightingale, at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, which was run by female physicians.
She received her diploma on September 1, 1873, and went to work as night supervisor at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
After attending Florence Nightingale's training school at St. Thomas Hospital in England in 1877, she became superintendent of a new training school at Boston City Hospital, which officially opened in 1878.
She worked in Japan for five years beginning in 1886 to start a training school for nurses.
Back in the United States, Linda Richards worked as a visiting nurse and helped train nurses to work with the mentally ill.
Linda Richards: America's First Trained Nurse
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