Frances Payne Bolton: WWII Nurse and Nursing Reformer

Introduction

The field of nursing has seen major changes over the years. Before the era of World War II, nurses were viewed with about the same level of expertise as a candy striper. Nurses were dispensing medications and cleaning bedpans, but their skills and intelligence were not truly utilized on the job. Because of the inability to expand their role or raise expectations, the field stagnated for many years. Then Frances Payne Bolton entered the scene.

Frances Payne Bolton was a nurse who took the bull by the horns and brought about changes that would revolutionize the nursing profession. She was a woman of strength and character, matched only by her determination. Her lifetime achievements and accomplishments underscore the important work she did in the healthcare industry. Frances Payne Bolton was one of the most important figures in the history of American nursing.

Because nursing is fundamentally about caring, it is important to understand who Frances Payne Bolton was before she decided to pursue that calling. Childhood experiences and early ideas often lead those who make the greatest difference to their chosen profession.

Early Life and Education

She was born on March 29, 1885, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, Charles William Bolton, spent his adult career as a well-recognized and prominent banker-industrialist (Tingling, 1986). He did extremely well in his field, and Frances was fortunate enough to grow up in a mansion known as the Perry Mansion. Her mother, Mary Payne Bingham, was a well-respected socialite whose family had provided comfortably for her throughout her upbringing. Unfortunately, Frances's mother died when Frances was only thirteen years old, leaving many later to wonder whether the loss of her mother did not spur her toward a career in which people are helped and healed (Tingling, 1986).

She was educated at Hathaway Brown School and attended Miss Spence's School for Girls in New York City from 1902 to 1904. She also studied music in France, for at one time she had wanted to pursue a singing career. Frances married Chester Bolton in 1904 but remained an active part of her previous civic life.

First Encounters with Nursing

Frances got her first taste of nursing when she worked as a volunteer with the Visiting Nurse Association. She would make the rounds with the nurses as they traveled to poor neighborhoods and delivered healthcare to those who were too poor or too ill to see a doctor (Semmes, 1996). Through this early contact, Frances made the connection between nursing and providing compassionate, humane treatment to everyone regardless of their circumstances. This experience was another guiding light on the path to her becoming the respected professional she would eventually become (McGowen, 2000).

Mrs. Bolton also belonged to a "Brownie Club" — unrelated to the Girl Scouts — where ten-year-olds would gather to make handmade souvenirs such as towels and pin cushions, which they sold and sent the proceeds to the mountain people of Appalachia. As the Brownie Club members grew older, they continued to meet, and by the age of eighteen they had adopted the Visiting Nurse Association as their charity, making dressings and bandages for the nurses to use when attending the sick in their homes.

The young debutantes were very active in the community. Mrs. Bolton was not satisfied with simply making dressings, so at age eighteen she began accompanying the visiting nurses on their calls to the poor and sick. "Many a time," Mrs. Bolton said, "I scrubbed kids in the slums." This experience with the Visiting Nurse Association helped her develop a philosophy: "You must give something to someone to be happier, especially when that gift is your own time and strength." This philosophy guided her throughout her life.

The real turning point in her nursing work came when she was asked to present a speech about the conditions of working nurses across the nation. She spoke before a Board of Trustees at a hospital, and they were so impressed with her candid assessment that they provided funds to expand their nursing program. Frances understood from the beginning that to make her point she had to be forceful and knowledgeable. That became a hallmark of her approach and served her well in changing many aspects of nursing for the better.

During World War I, Bolton was a key figure in persuading the Secretary of War to establish a school for nursing students to serve the war effort. Until then, the military had to rely on well-meaning but uneducated volunteers. The new program was designed to train and provide nurses who were educated and capable of handling the specific healthcare demands of wartime service.

This contribution to the nursing field earned her a position on the Board of Trustees at Lakeside Hospital in 1921. While there, she ensured that funding was provided to endow a School of Nursing at Western Reserve University. Bolton firmly believed that nurses should receive not only nursing training but also a college education, so that they would be well-rounded and able to relate to all types of patients as well as to other healthcare professionals.

Her substantial donation enabled the University to elevate the School of Nursing from a department of the College of Women to the status of a separate college in 1923. In June 1935, it was renamed the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in honor of her continued support and dedication.

Conclusion

The Bolton Act was one of her finest achievements, but even after it passed she did not stop there. Bolton spent her life bringing the needs of nursing professionals to the national stage and fighting steadily to establish nursing as the respected and rigorous profession it is today. Frances Payne Bolton remains one of the most consequential figures in the history of American healthcare.