History of Nevada Nurses Association Available

Nevada RNformation, May 2004

The history of the Nevada Nurses Association has been carefully researched and preserved in a dissertation that was prepared by Ellen Suzanne Fries in 1991. This work, titled: Organized Nursing in the Silver State: A History of the Nevada Nurses Association, was completed when Ellen earned a Doctor of Nursing Science at the University of San Diego in San Diego, California at that time. It is available at the University of Nevada Reno Agriculture Library (where nursing literature is housed).

Ellen's work is also listed in the Digital Dissertations database run by ProQuest. This means that the full bibliographic information and the abstract are on line, and that anyone subscribing to ProQuest can download this entire dissertation for free. ProQuest has taken the place of University Microfilms in Ann Arbor as the holder of worldwide dissertations.

The purpose of the dissertation was to conduct an historical analysis of the Nevada Nurses Association (NNA) to determine the influence of national, state, and local societal issues on the evolution of the organization. Findings revealed that a core group of women dealt with low membership and decreased finances as they sought to improve nursing education and to protect consumers from inferior care. A close working relationship existed between NNA and the BONE (Board of Nurse Examiners - now the Nevada State Board of Nursing) throughout the years.

Research for the project began in 1988, when Ellen received permission from NNA to access the organization's files at the Nevada Historical Society. Her subsequent work is now a help to all of us. She sorted, organized, and categorized materials available, then provided a listing of everything in every folder there at the time.

This interesting dissertation looks at some of the problems that nurses faced when starting the organization. In addition, there is information regarding social issues in Nevada, the St. Mary's Hospital School of Nursing, and even the Red Cross. Ellen says that her biggest obstacle was absence of material, as there were gaps in archived information.

Ellen is now married and her name is Ellen S. House. She is a nursing professor at Truckee Meadows Community College. In May, 2001, she received the Northern Nevada' Nurses of Achievement Nurse Educator of the Year Award.