Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing: The Early 20th Century Nursing Student

1936 Dorothea Daniels, R.N., named the new director. Hattie Hecht was house mother and supervised the dormitories. 1943 Beth Israel participated in the U.S. Cadet Nursing Program under the Bolton Act, which provided subsidies for training nursing students for war duty. 1944 Clare M. Casey, R.N., M.A., was first School Director (Dean). 1945 Charles H. Silver, former President of the New York City Board of Education and President of the American Woolen Company became Beth Israel's 12 th President; Seymour J. Phillips, Beth Israel Trustee and Chairman of the Phillips Van Heusen Company appointed Chairman of the School.
The Depression took its toll on the nursing profession and created unemployment throughout the ranks. Many nurses also contracted tuberculosis and were unable to work. The American Nursing Association (ANA), one of several young nursing organizations that would later become indispensable to nurses, attempted to ease hardship by creating a relief fund for nurses wracked by financial difficulties.
National Recovery Act embelem		The jobs program of the National Recovery Administration, part of President Roosevelt's New Deal, was embraced by the ANA. It advocated a "share the work" plan whereby employed nurses would voluntarily cut their 12 hour workdays to 8 hours to create work for unemployed colleagues. The income of nurses was so small that most were reluctant to take a pay cut. In 1935, the Works Progress Administration created jobs in existing public health organizations, hospitals, and sanitariums. New programs for crippled children and immunizations also put nurses to work and by 1936 almost 4,000 nurses were employed in WPA programs. By 1941, there were 173,000 active nurses in the United States with 47% engaged in institutional work and only 27% remaining in private duty.
Works Progress Administration logo		During the 1930s, the only nursing guidelines found at Beth Israel were twenty years old and considered inadequate with "no definite rules as to the conduct of nurses and their behavior, i.e. the relation of the nurse to the intern.to the attending staff; for example - whether the nurse is responsible for obtaining apparatus or materials, or whether it is the duty of the intern." There was concern nurses did not get enough exercise and recreation, not to mention remuneration. A board meeting noted "the economic state of nurses at the present time is deplorable."

Beth Israel Schoolof Nursing Class of 1933 The Dazian Pavilion Male Ward in 1930
In 1934, a concerted effort defined rules and regulations governing the duties of nurses in various situations. Nursing students worked six days a week and the issue of curfews was considered so important that it was taken up at a meeting of the medical board. Pupil nurses were disciplined for being out of the building overnight. House mother Hatti Hecht watched over students and strictly enforced the rules. Nurses were not permitted to marry while in training and subsequent marriage was considered grounds for instant dismissal. Students wore black stockings, long sleeves, bibs, aprons, ankle length blue-check dresses, tight cuffs and a bishop's collar. During senior year, what was black became white; socks, stockings and dresses became the uniform of the professional nurse. Emily Post was consulted, and hats and gloves were de rigueur on field trips. Students wore no caps until senior year, when the celebrated capping exercise took place. Their pin, which displayed the Mogen David and was initially ordered in 1923 from Tiffany & Co. for $10.50, is the same pin awarded today. It currently reads, "The Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing."
Capping ceremony during the 1940’s In class during the 1940’s
Until 1945, Beth Israel Hospital consisting solely of the Dazian Pavilion and continued to be staffed by student nurses. Dress inspections took place in the dining room, and students were weighed once a week to make sure they did not "get too heavy" since there was a professional necessity for nurses to "look well." Hospital director Daniels insisted on student nurses who looked healthy and fit, believing that if students were overweight, they could not work hard and take care of patients.
Graduation ceremony during the 1940’s