Mary Carson Wreckinridge Early Midwifery History

“Work for our children should begin before they are born… These are the formative years, whether for their bodies, their minds or their loving hearts.” - Mary Carson Breckinridge

In the early 1900s, Leslie County, Kentucky was one of the poorest areas of America and had the highest infant mortality rate in the entire country. With the establishment of the frontier nursing service, the mortality rate shrunk to below the national average. Mary Carson Breckinridge was widowed at age 26, and her two children followed her husband. Soon after, she became a nurse and after the first world war, she discovered the practice of midwifery in Europe. She then became a nurse midwife in London, then moved back to Leslie County, Kentucky to aid the poor people

Mary Breckinridge created a midwifery service by bringing certified nurse midwives to the United States in the 1930s. “Because there was no American school of midwifery until it established one, the FNS imported trained English nurses along with some Americans trained in England.” (“The Wealthiest”) Due to lack of American nurse midwives, she brought trained nurse midwives from England to work in the nursing service. Mary Breckinridge later went on to establish the first midwifery school in the United States. “When the outbreak of World War II (1939–1945) forced many of the nurse-midwives in training to return home. The FNS then established the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery, the first of its kind in America. Since 1939, the school has trained hundreds of midwives.”(“The Wealthiest”). Setting up a school of midwifery kept the practice alive during the second world war and to this very day. Educating American midwives was a new step in making midwifery a nationally recognized profession, and it broadened the care of women and children. Mary Breckinridge had determination and managed to bring a dying practice back to America, but she also made an important impact on poorest parts of the

Breckinridge’s devotion to the people of leslie county was infinite, and she did anything in her power to provide care. “They traveled on horseback and on foot to provide quality prenatal and childbirth care in the clients' own homes, functioning as both midwives and family nurses.” (Castlenovo). She and other nurses in the nursing service would travel by foot and on a horse through the rough terrain of the Appalachian Mountains just to care for their patients. The nurses helped with primary care as well as midwives in a place where there are no physicians to be found. Mary Breckinridge was big hearted, and she helped people regardless of the pay or recognition received by patients. “Clients could pay the low fees in money or goods, and no one was turned away. In the area served, both maternal and infant mortality rates decreased dramatically.”(Castlenovo). This evidence shows that in a time where the medical industry was backed by obstetricians who demanded high rates for their time, Breckinridge legitimately cared about the well being of her patients. She stood up against America’s medical system and fought for the practice that she believed