Digital Gallery Explore
What do we see when we look closely?
Examine this postcard of a Frontier nurse with a family. Established in 1925, the Frontier Nursing Service provides care to the people of rural Kentucky through nurses trained in a combination of nursing, public health, and midwifery skills.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.
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- Q1Can you see what the nurse is doing?
- A1The postcard shows a Frontier nurse, who probably arrived on horseback, taking the blood pressure of the mother as part of a general health checkup.
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- Q2Can you see if the mother and child are healthy?
- A2Frontier nurses attended thousands of births over the years and lost very few mothers especially compared to the overall US population.
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- Q3Can you identify the family's economic status?
- A3In the 1940s in Kentucky, along with isolation and limited local access to medical care, rural poverty was endemic; Frontier nurses were often the only source of medical aid.
A fundraising card for the Frontier Nursing Service features a nurse tending to and giving advice to a mother, 1945
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- Q1Can you see what the nurse is doing?
- A1The postcard shows a Frontier nurse, who probably arrived on horseback, taking the blood pressure of the mother as part of a general health checkup.
-
- Q2Can you see if the mother and child are healthy?
- A2Frontier nurses attended thousands of births over the years and lost very few mothers especially compared to the overall US population.
-
- Q3Can you identify the family's economic status?
- A3In the 1940s in Kentucky, along with isolation and limited local access to medical care, rural poverty was endemic; Frontier nurses were often the only source of medical aid.
- 1Can you see what the nurse is doing?
- 2Can you see if the mother and child are healthy?
- 3Can you identify the family's economic status?