Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/219

203 Extensions of Nursing Field 203 had been carried on in Baltimore (1899) by two women medical students under Dr. Osier's direc- tion. Their work was taken over by nurses and regularly organized in 1903. In 1902-3, the Charity Organization Society of New York City brought together all scattered groups into a na- tional body, — the American Committee on Pre- vention of Tuberculosis. This committee em- ployed a nurse, and a little later the Vanderbilt Clinic followed this example. The New York City Health Department appointed three visiting nurses for its tuberculosis work in 1903. By 1906 nine cities were employing thirty-four nurses for this service. From such small beginnings did the present vast extension of the nursing field in regard to tuberculosis prevention arise. It has often been said that the value of the nurse as a teacher of hygiene and sanitation was first recognized and used systematically by Public the leaders of the anti-tuberculosis recognition crusade. This movement relied mainly nurse as a teacher on popular instruction, publicity, and the community spirit to accomplish its purpose. So much close individual teaching was needed, the whole mass of tuberculosis was so much greater than had been known, and the personal difficulties were so great, that the help of nurses was quickly