Excellence in Care:
The Sisters of Charity legacy as nurse educators By S. Judith Metz
F
rom their early years the American Sisters of Charity were involved in nursing education. Elizabeth Seton dreamed of opening a hospital at St. Joseph’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and it was shortly after her death that the Sisters became involved in hospital nursing. In their formation young Sisters received instruction in nursing care. S. Mary Xavier Clark, longserving novice director, wrote a pocket-sized “Instruction for the Care of the Sick,” while S. Matilda McCoskery, an experienced nurse, mentored young Sister-nurses and wrote “Advices Concerning the Sick.” It was not until after the Civil War when the number of hospitals grew, creating a demand for nursing on a higher level of expertise. Bellevue Hospital in New York was the first U.S. hospital to open a school of nursing based on the system initiated by Florence Nightingale. Others soon followed. The first to open locally was Cincinnati General in 1889. Mother Sebastian Shea started the program at Good Samaritan Hospital in 1896 at the instigation of Hattie Lenegar (later S. Henrietta Marie) who was one of the first graduates. Later, as supervisor of the operating room for 20 years, S. Henrietta Marie instructed nursing students as part of their rotations.
In 1896 Mother Sebastian Shea (left) started the school of nursing at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati.
As the years went on nearly every Sister of Charity hospital sponsored a school of nursing. Many Sister-nurses served as classroom instructors and as clinical instructors in each of these hospitals. At Good Samaritan Hospital S. Mary Cyril McNamara directed the school from 1906-1924 where she succeeded in receiving accreditation for the school. Great emphasis was placed on establishing nursing as a profession, so efforts were made to provide students with the best theoretical and practical training. Nurse training was strict and demanding, and S. Mary Cyril maintained a businesslike and formal demeanor with the students. She taught them and supervised them, presided over silent breakfasts and quiet dinners, and made sure their uniforms were spotless. In addition to their classes, she gave “little talks” on human relations skills, communication, and dealing with grief.
the College of Mount St. Joseph. Her most memorable contributions to the field occurred at Glockner Hospital in Colorado Springs. Here she successfully merged three failing Sisters of Charity nursing schools – Glockner, St. Mary’s (Pueblo), and Mount San Rafael (Trinidad) – into the Seton School of Nursing, one of the first central schools in the country. Believing in “total care” – physical, mental, and spiritual – she went out of her way to provide special touches for patients. While being firm and professional with her students, she was noted as a gentle, compassionate and generous woman, but also one with “practical idealism,” and a capacity for cooperative planning. From her base at the Seton School, S. Cyril became a recognized national leader in the field of nursing education. She published articles in professional journals, served on local, state, and national committees and boards of professional nursing associations, and on state boards of nurse examiners in Colorado, Michigan, and Ohio.
S. Cyril Mahrt’s distinguished career in nurse education began in 1917 when she was appointed director of the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing in Mount Clemens, Michigan. From there she served at Good Samaritan where she established a baccalaureate program in affiliation with
An eastern counterpart of S. Cyril was S. DeChantal McCarthy who served as director of the Good Samaritan School of Nursing from 1933-’43, and then in the same capacity at St. Joseph’s in Mount Clemens. “She commanded respect. She didn’t demand it, she commanded it,” one
14
I n t e rc o m
