Alabama's Nursing Legend

Alabama Nurse, Jun-Aug 2003 by Cleveland, Patricia J

Linna Hamilton Denny, RN

Paving the Path to Greatness

1864-1955

University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Nursing joined UAB Hospital, Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital and The Kirklin Clinic in celebrating National Nurse Week with its "M*A*S*H" Make A Scholarship Happen benefit on Sunday. The winner of the annual "Nurses CanDo" drive was selected Wednesday, May 7. The Excellence in Nursing Awards Luncheon and Ceremony was Friday, May 8. The week concluded May 12 with the annual Nurse Scholar Day Luncheon at The Club.

While Linna Hamilton Denny is not a household name, it is the name of an individual who helped shape nursing education in this state through her multiple positive actions.

Miss Denny was Alabama's first Red Cross Nurse and # 46 in the nation at the turn of the 20th century. Helping during a horrific hurricane in Galveston, Texas, 1900, caring for wounded soldiers in Poland at the end of World War 1, battling the malaria epidemic in Georgia, 1899, are just a few of her accomplishments as a Red Cross Nurse.

Miss Denny did a little of everything when it came to nursing. At one point she was the publie school nurse in Birmingham. Private duty nursing, working in mining camps and plantations, serving the rich and the poor in Birmingham-all were part of her experience. She knew the importance of basic nursing.

Elevating the status of nursing was very important to Miss Denny. She was the first president and executive secretary of Alabama State Nurses Association and served on the Board of Nurses' Examiners (Alabama Board of Nursing). She pushed for passage of the first Nurse Practice Act in Alabama.

Realizing the importance of baccalaureate education, she was a advocate of the formation of the University of Alabama School of Nursing in Tuscaloosa in the late 1940s. A pioneer in nursing, she paved the way for the advancement of nursing by advocating specialized education for nurses. She was full of boundless energy, tireless devotion, and served in a magnanimous capacity to help others. In 1952, she received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from the University for over 35 years of service to the state. Miss Denny was one of the first to be inducted into the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame. She was a gem among nurses.

Miss Denny would be proud to know that the University of Alabama connection continues through her great-niece, Lydia Cheney, who is a Program Manager with Cancer Education, Comprehensive Cancer Center, UAB.

In celebration of National Nurses Week, a display of "The Life of Linna Denny," will be at Lister Hill Library, UAB, 1st floor, 1700 University Blvd., Birmingham. The display will include her portrait, a detailed album developed by a Red Cross volunteer chronicling Miss Denny's life, and one of her American Red Cross pins. The display may be viewed until June 23 and is sponsored by the University of Alabama School of Nursing Alumni Association, UAB and the School of Nursing in partnership with UAB 's Historical Collections.

Thank you, Miss Denny, for helping pave the path to greatness for nurses in Alabama.

References:

THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS: FROM TUSCALOOSA TO BIRMINGHAM by Anita Smith

THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABABA SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1950-1970 by Florence A. Hixson, RN, Ed.D.

by Patricia J. Cleveland, RN, MSN

Archivist, University of Alabama School of Nursing

Alumni Association Chapter,

UAB National Alumni Society