Dorothea Dix

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Dorothea Dix

• Gabby Zibell

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Dorothea Dix

• She was born on April 4, 1802 in Maine
• Died July 17, 1887 in Trenton, New Jersey
• At the age of 15 she opened a little dame
  school. She ran and taught at this school for
  three years.
• Her dream was to be a teacher but when the stress
  became too much she decided to go to Europe to
  rest.
• When she was is Europe she helped clean up
  prisons and helped the mentally ill

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Accomplishments

• She was the most effective advocate of
  humanitarian reform in American mental
  institutions, during the nineteenth century.
• From 1824 to 1829 she published five books.
• During the Civil War she was an army nurse.
• She has her own stamp with her picture on it. It
  was made September 23, 1993.

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Accomplishments

• She investigated state of Massachusetts and
  received funds for Worcester State Hospital
• She worked for better living conditions in jails
  and poorhouses
• Dorothea Dix founded 32 mental hospitals, 15
  schools, 1 school for blind
• She assisted in founding hospitals and libraries
• Superintendent of Union Army Nurses in Civil War

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Awards and Honors

• She got an award for 6,500.
• She got scholarships so she could go to school to
  be a teacher.
• Millions of people have read her books.

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The Civil War

• During the Civil War she worked as the
  Superintendent of Nurses
• She finally retired from public service when she
  was 79 and died on July 18, 1887.
• at age 59 she offered her services to the Union
  Army. Although Dix was not formally trained as a
  nurse, her tenacity and exceptional
  organizational skills impressed the secretary of
  war, Simon Cameron, who appointed her as the
  superintendent of Union Army Nurses.
• Before the civil war, army nursing duties were
  done by ambulatory male nurses. Dix convinced the
  skeptical military officials that women could ...
  do the job perfectly well and recruited 2000
  women into the army.

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The Civil War

• The army nursing care markedly improved under her
  supervision.
• She took good care of the nurses who worked in
  the harsh environment, and even went to the
  extent of obtaining health care supplies from
  private agencies when the government was not
  willing to provide them.

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Sources

• Bumb, Jenn. "Dorothea Dix." Webster University.
  N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2011. lthttp//www.webster.ed
  u/woolflm/dorotheadix.htmlgt.
• "DOROTHEA DIX." DOROTHEA DIX. N.p., n.d. Web. 2
  May 2011. lthttp//lbbaby210.tripod.com/gt.
• Reddi, Vasantha, PhD, and MHES. "Biography of
  Dorothea Lynde Dix." The Center for Nursing
  Advocacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2011.
  lthttp//www.nursingadvocacy.org/press/pioneers/dix
  .htmlgt.