Our History

Special thanks to LeAnn Lindeman and Connie Sauer for their commitment to nursing and for their efforts in pulling together the following timeline. - 3rd District Nurses

1900 to 1909

General interest

• The bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco
• Eastman Kodak introduces the $1 Box Brownie camera

• Wm. Einthoven prints the electrocardiograph recording on a string galvanometer
• Alfred Einhorn develops Novocain, eliminating pain from most dental work
• Karl Landsteiner discovers blood types

• M. Adelaide Nutting begins the connection of higher education to nursing preparation by requiring students at Johns Hopkins to complete 6-month basic sciences and nursing principles and practice before clinical experience
• The first issue of the American Journal of Nursing is published in 1900
• California, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia become the first states to secure nursing licensure laws
• The School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota becomes the first nursing school organized as an integral part of the university

• Third District is founded through an establishment of a nursing registry under the name Hennepin County Graduate Nurses Association (HCGNA) which was formed by the graduates of seven hospital nursing schools
• An early concern was the adequacy of education and what constituted “proper instruction” since sometimes nurses were taught on the job
• The National Nursing convention was held here in 1909
  

1910 to 1919

General Interest

• Congress institutes the personal income tax
• Radio Broadcasts begin in 1918
• In 1916 the United States enters World War I

• The first laparoscopy, called organoscopy, is conducted at John Hopkins Hospital
• The pandemic of influenza reaches the United States, causing 500,000 deaths

• The American Nurses Association becomes the successor to the Nurse’s Associated Alumnae
• New York’s Teachers College and the University of Cincinnati are the first universities to establish 5-year bachelor-degree programs in nursing
• Margaret Sanger, a nurse working with poor women, coins the term birth control and opens a women’s clinic in Lower New York City

• The close relationship with Red Cross Nursing Services helps the district and Red Cross in recruitment of members
• Monthly meetings with educational topics attract as many as 200 members
• In 1919 HCGNA becomes the Third District of MN Nurses Association and encompassed ten counties. They incorporate and elect a Board of Directors

General Interest

• Carrie Chapman Catt forms the League of Women Voters
• Prohibition bans alcohol causing an increase in criminal liquor production and sale
• Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal snaps, crackles, and pops for the first time
• Charles Lindbergh makes the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic (1927)

• Alexander Fleming reports his observations on the antibacterial action of penicillium
• William Forssmann performs, on himself, the first cardiac catheterization with x-ray confirmation

• Sigma Theta Tau,national honor society of nursing, is established at Indiana University (1922)
• In Kentucky, Mary Breckinridge organizes the Frontier Nursing Service, the first rural midwifery service in the United States

• A major issue was that doctors were in the habit of calling for their own “special” nurses and bypassing the registry; the district fought this and successfully became the only source of private duty nurses
• Another major issue was the hours worked in a shift—should it be 24 hours, 12 hours, or 10 hours? Home versus hospital standards for shifts were discussed and set
• In seeking a place to have an office and meet, the “clubhouse” idea emerged and a sizeable space on the 11^th floor of the Donaldson building was leased. It would serve as a social gathering place as well as an office area
• Meetings alternated between evening and afternoon to serve more members; the clubhouse had hours for social gatherings as well as comfortable furniture

1930-1939

General Interest

• Congress declares Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner” as the American National Anthem (1931)
• Reformed alcoholic Bill Wilson anonymously founds Alcoholics Anonymous
• Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average hits it Depression-era low (1932). Banks fail and businesses go bankrupt; 21 thousand commit suicide
• Adolf Hitler comes to power in Germany in 1933 and World War II begins in 1939 as German troops invade Poland, France and Britain declare war.

• Phillip Levine and R.E. Stetson discover the Rh blood group system
• Gerhard Domagk discovers sulfonamides

• Approximately 6000 nurses are employed on Works Progress Administration projects
• Blood transfusions were a serious treatment requiring a student to sit with the patient while they were given

• During the years of economic depression it is hard for members to get work; a relief fund and a scholarship fund are established
• To meet social needs, bridge lessons are offered at the “clubhouse”; the clubhouse is also available for rental with the hope of providing a revenue source
• The length of shift is again discussed with consensus on the 8 hour shift recommended. Pay is discussed and adjusted
• The district fought the Medical Association in terms of placing a “medical man” on the Board of Examiners for Nursing

1940-1949

General Interest

• The war in Europe escalates; United States enters war in 1941 after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
• World War II ends in 1945, shortly after President Roosevelt’s death

Medicine

• Physicians use the Pap smear to detect cervical cancer; within 20 years, cervical cancer will no longer be the leading cause of death among American women
• Streptomycin is discovered, the first antibiotic to be effective against tuberculosis
• Penicillin is mass-produced to treat up to 7 million persons per year
• The Communicable Disease Center opens in Atlanta; part of USPHS

• The National Nursing Council for War Service is established to recruit nurses throughout the war
• The “Angels of Bataan and Corregidor,” Army and Navy nurses, become the only women prisoners in World War II, spending three years in an internment camp
• Federal appropriations for the training of nurses increases to $3 million in 1942

Third District Nurses

• Redistricting takes the northern counties away from Third District
• Licensing of Nurses becomes an issue in mid-decade and the Nurse Practice Act is enacted
• Members leave for the Armed Services; a method for recognizing these was developed
• By 1947 the clubhouse was discontinued and the district office moved to North American Life building

1950-1959

General Interest

• North Korea invades South Korea, sparking the Korean War (1951-1959)
• American Express debuts the Credit Card
• Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states in 1959

Medicine

• Polio is a major public health problem; the killed-virus vaccine(Jonas Salk) is not introduced until 1955 and the live-virus vaccine in 1957(Albert Sabin)
• Dr. Virginia Apgar published her neonatal scoring system known as the Apgar score
• Experiments in mice link cancer to tobacco tar(1953)
• The first successful open heart surgery is performed at the University of Minnesota
• James Watson and Francis Crick determine the double-helical structure of DNA

Nursing

• Associate-degree nursing programs are piloted in seven strategically positioned community colleges
• The American Nurses Foundation is founded to conduct research, provide research grants, and publish scientific work
• Male nurses are commissioned in the Army Reserve for assignment to Army Nursing Corps

Third District Nurses

• In looking for new headquarters a proposal to house Third and Fourth District, MNA and the Board of Nurses is made, but not enacted
• The proposed rules for LPNs and auxiliary workers were read and accepted
• The registry is struggling financially and dues are used to support it; it is finally turned over to Hennepin County Medical Society for management
• Budget deficits and personnel changes dominate this decade

1960-1969

General Interest

• The Berlin Wall is built to stop the escape of refugees from East to West Berlin
• President Kennedy forms the Peace Corps
• President Kennedy is assassinated in November of 1963 in Dallas, Texas
• President Johnson signs the Medicare Act into law in 1964
• United States troops land in Vietnam for military action

Medicine

• In 1961 the first birth control pill is made available to the public
• Michael DeBakey uses the first artificial heart to sustain blood circulation in surgery
• Although the Surgeon General releases a report linking smoking to lung cancer, the popularity of cigarette smoking in the United States increases
• In 1969 the first in vitro fertilization of an egg occurs
• Christian Bernard performs the first human heart transplant

• American military nurses become involved in the Vietnam efforts in 1962
• By February of 1966, 300 Army, Navy, and Air Force nurses are serving in Vietnam
• Congress authorizes commissions in the regular Army for male nurses

• Third District Nurses
  
  Civil defense and communism are topics at district meetings
• Fund raising events for the American Nurses Foundation were held
• Whether non-members should be allowed to attend continuing education and interest group meetings is a topic of discussion; MNA opposes their attendance
• Concerns regarding the use of LPNs and Nurse Aids in practice arise

1970-1979

General Interest

• The Environmental Protection Agency is created by Congress to control air and water pollution; the first Earth Day is observed
• IBM introduces the first “memory disk” (floppy disk) and Intel develops the first microprocessor chip; later in the decade Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and the first Apple computer is built, introducing PCs to the world
• OPEC raises oil prices by 70% and then 130%, precipitating the oil crisis
• In 1972 President Nixon makes historic visits to China and the Soviet Union

Medicine

• The computerized axial tomography (CAT) machine is first used (1970)
• Henry Heimlich describes the Heimlich maneuver to rescue choking victims
• Balloon angioplasty surgery is pioneered
• In 1978, Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, is born in England

• The first National Conference on the Classification of Nursing Diagnoses is held in St. Louis
• Nursing roles are expanding and more independent means of care delivery are experienced in community, home, schools and the air
• Nurse practitioner training and practice begins, adding a new dimension to care delivery

Third District Nurses

• There is an increased involvement in political affairs and community health issues with a representative appointed to the Hennepin County Health Coalition
• The Pediatric Nurse Practitioner group becomes a part of Third District with the Adult Nurse Practitioners form a group soon after
• Large enrollments in continuing education help to balance the budget, but financial concerns dominate this decade
• The District participates in “Year of the Nurse” activities in 1977

1980-1989

General Interest

• After 444 days in captivity, the American hostages in Iran are released as Ronald Reagan takes the presidential oath of office
• IBM introduces its personal computer; Microsoft releases Windows; Apple computer releases the first Macintosh PC; in ’84, the internet opens to public use
• The space shuttle Challenger explodes 13 seconds after liftoff, killing its seven-member crew including a teacher who was the first private citizen to fly on the shuttle
• The Berlin Wall comes down in 1989, but the Chinese repress protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing

Medicine

• The first cases of AIDS are identified in a small population of homosexual men in Los Angeles in 1981; by 1983 the agent responsible for AIDS, HIV, is isolated
• Crack cocaine is developed
• The Food and Drug Administration approves human insulin produced in bacteria

• The School of Nursing at the University of California-San Francisco becomes the first in the USA to offer a graduate curriculum in AIDS
• Nursing diagnosis development proceeds to standardizing nursing interventions
• Increasing numbers of nurses are organized into unions for economic protection
• A large strike is authorized in 1984 in the Twin Cities, Minnesota

Third District Nurses

• The district takes a supportive role in the 39 day strike and helps members raise funds and band together
• COHORT, a comprehensive listing of continuing education services, is a service to members and a subscription opportunity to nonmembers.

1990-1999

General Interest

• In 199l, the Soviet Union collapses, and Boris Yeltsin is inaugurated as the first freely elected president of the Russian Republic; the Baltic states regain independence
• Operation Desert Storm ousts Iraqi troops from Kuwait: American doctors and nurses take an important role of support of troops in this military action
• President Clinton is survives the impeachment process in 1998
• American tobacco companies pay $206 million to settle lawsuits in 46 states

Medicine

• The Human Genome Project begins in 1990
• A menopausal 53-year old woman gives birth to twins after in vitro fertilization using eggs from a donor and sperm from her husband
• The first set of live septuplets is born to an Iowa couple in 1997; all are surviving
• Hepatitis C becomes a larger threat in the USA; CDC report that HIV infection is no longer one of the top 10 killers in the United States

• Expanding roles in nursing continue as more enter the advanced nurse courses
• Parish nursing, a spiritually centered holistic nursing practice, sees large increases
• More nurses enter and complete Masters and Doctoral programs in Nursing

Third District Nurses

• Third District responds to membership issues as labor law is reinterpreted to make district membership optional
• Continuing education is an increasing viable part of the services and budget at the district.