Lillian D Wald (1867 - 1940)

Lillian Wald was born March 10, 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[1] She was a daughter of Max D. Wald and Minnie Schwarz.^[2][3]

In 1878, she moved with her family to Rochester, New York. She attended Miss Cruttenden's English-French Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies. She applied to Vassar College at the age of 16, but the school thought that she was too young. In 1889, she attended New York Hospital's School of Nursing. She graduated from the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1891, then took courses at the Woman's Medical College.

Wald worked for a time at the New York Juvenile Asylum, an orphanage where conditions were poor. By 1893, she left medical school and started to teach a home class on nursing for poor immigrant families on New York City's Lower East Side at the Hebrew Technical School for Girls. Shortly thereafter, she began to care for sick Lower East Side residents as a visiting nurse. Around that time she coined the term "public health nurse" to describe nurses whose work is integrated into the public community.

Wald advocated for nursing in public schools. Her ideas led the New York Board of Health to organize the first public nursing system in the world. She was the first president of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing. Wald established a nursing insurance partnership with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that became a model for many other corporate projects. She suggested a national health insurance plan and helped to found the Columbia University School of Nursing.

Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement. By 1906 Wald had 27 nurses on staff. Wald authored two books relating to her community health work, The House on Henry Street (1911) and Windows on Henry Street (1934).

Wald went on to help organize other public health nursing programs in universities and for organizations, including the American Red Cross. Recognizing that the urban poor had great needs beyond health care, Wald expanded Henry Street services to include social services, especially those benefiting children. She led the charge to abolish child labor, and helped secure the creation of the federal Children’s Bureau in 1912.^[4]

By 1913, the staff had grown to 92 people. The Henry Street Settlement eventually developed as the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

Wald's vision for Henry Street was one unlike any others at the time. Wald believed that every New York City resident was entitled to equal and fair health care regardless of their social status, socio-economic status, race, gender, or age. She argued that everyone should have access to at-home-care. Wald believed that regardless of if a person could afford at-home-care, they deserved to be treated with the same level of respect that some who could afford it would be.

Arguably one of the most significant changes to the public health sector, the Settlement did much more than just provide better medical care. Primarily focusing on the care of women and children, the Settlement changed the landscape of public health care in New York City. These programs helped to cut back on time patients spent at hospitals while also making at-home-care more accessible and efficient.

Wald was a strong advocate for community support. Much of the Henry Street Settlement's initial success was from Wald's diligent and persistent work at cultivating personal relationships with the Settlement's donors. Wald was also a strong advocate for the social benefit of having donors who dwelled within the community. These benefits included the temporary break-up of families when people were forced to spend time in the hospital, improved the quality of at-home-care, and reduced medical expenses by offering an alternative to hospital stays.

Wald never married. She maintained her closest relationships and attachments with women. She preferred personal independence, which allowed her to move quickly, travel freely and act boldly.

According to Henry Street Settlement: "Based on love letters uncovered by historian Blanche Wiesen Cook, we know of two romantic relationships in particular, with lawyer Helen Arthur and Mabel Hyde Kittredge, who helped Wald in her effort to initiate a public-school lunch program. Wald called her supportive community of women “the Family.” Understanding these support networks is essential to understanding Henry Street’s founding days and the legacy of the organization." ^[5]

Lillian died of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 1, 1940. She was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, United States.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925, Lillian D Wald, 1900; citing Passport Application, United States, source certificate #, Passport Applications, 1795-1905., 553.
2. ↑ United States Census, 1870, Lillie Wald in entry for Max D Wald, 1870; Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States.
3. ↑ United States Census, 1880, Lillie Wald in household of M D Wald, Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States; citing enumeration district ED 79, sheet 132A.
4. ↑ National Women's Hall of Fame
5. ↑ Henry Street history, Lillian Wald
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #6179 page for Lillian D. Wald (10 Mar 1867–1 Sep 1940), citing Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, Monroe County, New York, USA.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJTP-ZX3 : 2 February 2021), Lillian D Wald, 1920.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4KQ-LY5 : accessed 23 August 2021), Lillian D Wold, Manhattan (Districts 0001-0250), New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 5, sheet 3B, line 73, family 68

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K71S-T3G : 8 January 2021), Lillian D Wald, Westport, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1-223, sheet 11A, line 9, family 358, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940

• Wikipedia: Lillian Wald