Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/183

167 Nursing in America 167 the requirements. By this plan a nurse who joins her alumnae association becomes at the same tiilie a member of her district association, state associa- tion, and the American Nurses' Association. If she is living away from her own school, she joins the district association of her actual residence. The purposes of the American Nurses' Associa- tion, as stated in its articles of incorporation, are: "To promote the professional and educational advancement of nurses in every proper way; to elevate the standard of nursing education; to es- tablish and maintain a code of ethics among nurses; to distribute relief among such nurses as may become ill, disabled, or destitute; to dis- seminate information on the subject of nursing by publications in official periodicals or otherwise; to bring into communication with each other various nurses and associations and federations of nurses throughout the United States of America. ..." These purposes are carried out by means of the conventions held biennially, which bring thousands of nurses together; by the American Journal of Nursing, which is the official organ of the Associa- tion ; by the Isabel Hampton Robb Memorial Fund, which gives scholarships for graduate study; by the Mclsaac Loan Fund which makes loans for educa-