The Life and Impact of Lilian Wald

Early Life and Education

On March 10, 1867, Lillian Wald was born into a German-Jewish middle-class family in Cincinnati, Ohio. She resided with her family in Ohio until 1878 when she moved with her family to Rochester, New York for her father’s career as an optics dealer. Her family enrolled her in a boarding school for young ladies called Miss Cruttenden’s English-French School. Lillian Wald was ambitious at a young age as she applied for college at the age of 16. Vassar College, the school she applied to, felt that Lillian was much too young for college and denied her entry. Six years later, at the age of 22, Lillian was accepted into the New York Hospital’s School of Nursing. Wald graduated from nursing school in 1891. She continued her education at the Woman’s Medical College (National Women’s History Museum, n.d.).

The Life and Impact of Lillian Wald

One of the places that Wald worked at in her nursing career was the New York Juvenile Asylum, now called Children’s Village. The New York Juvenile Asylum was an orphanage and the conditions were very poor. In 1893, Wald decided to leave medical school and start teaching nursing classes at the Hebrew Technical School for Girls located in the Lower East Side of New York City. Most of her students were from impoverished families that had immigrated to the United States. Not long afterward, she became a visiting nurse who cared for the ill residents in the Lower East Side of New York City. Wald and Mary Brewster, another famous nurse, moved into a room near the patients so that they could take care of them more effectively. During this time, Wald came up with the name “public health nurse” to refer to nurses who worked in the public community (Jewish Women’s Archive, n.d.).

Pioneering Public Health Nursing

Wald had a significant influence in integrating nursing into public schools. Her pioneering ideas helped spearhead the New York Board of Health to establish the first public nursing foundation in the world. She served as the first president of the National Organization of Public Health Nursing. Additionally, she founded a nursing insurance affiliation with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that developed a model for numerous other business developments. Wald also helped establish the Columbia University School of Nursing and recommended a national health insurance plan (National Women’s History Museum, n.d.). She was the author of two books, "The House on Henry Street" (1911) and "Windows on Henry Street" (1934), which described her work in community health.

The Henry Street Settlement

Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement, a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City that provides social services, arts programs, and health care services. A prominent Jewish philanthropist, Jacob Schiff, was very impressed with Wald and her service agency and provided funding to her discreetly to help the disadvantaged Jewish Russian families. By 1906, Wald had employed 27 nurses and attracted more financial support from other famous philanthropists, such as Elizabeth Milbank Anderson (New York Times, 1916). By 1913, Wald had 92 people working for the Henry Street Settlement. Eventually, the Henry Street Settlement was established as the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (Fee & Bu, 2010).

Wald’s Vision for Healthcare

Wald’s dream for the Henry Street Settlement was like none other for that period. She envisioned equal and fair health care for all persons regardless of their socio-economic status, gender, social status, race, or age (Lannon, 2006). She believed that everyone should have access to home health care. Wald was a strong advocate for excellent bedside manner and treated each person with the utmost respect, whether they could afford healthcare services or not. Her vision was transformative and laid the groundwork for future public health initiatives, highlighting her dedication to community well-being and social justice.

References

Fee, E., & Bu, L. (2010). The Health Legacy of Lillian Wald. *American Journal of Public Health, 100*(9), 1588-1595.

Jewish Women’s Archive. (n.d.). Lillian Wald. Retrieved from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wald-lillian

Lannon, R. (2006). Lillian Wald: Public Health Pioneer. *Public Health Nursing, 23*(5), 472-476.

National Women’s History Museum. (n.d.). Lillian D. Wald. Retrieved from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/lillian-d-wald

New York Times. (1916, September 2). Jacob Schiff’s Gift to Lillian Wald. *The New York Times*. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1916/09/02/archives/jacob-schiffs-gift-to-lillian-wald.html