‘The Cadet Nurse Corps in Arizona’ – by Elsie M. Szecsy

‘The Cadet Nurse Corps in Arizona’ – by Elsie M. Szecsy – A History of Service

Congress established the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II to meet the high demand for medical care. The first federal women’s education program, it included a nondiscrimination policy decades before the civil rights movement. The trailblazing cadets and innovative healthcare practices at the five participating teaching hospitals in Arizona left a lasting national legacy.

• Sage Memorial Hospital was the country’s only accredited nursing school for Native Americans.
• Santa Monica’s Hospital and nursing school was the first to integrate west of the Mississippi.

The daughter of a Navajo medicine man, U.S. Army Nurse Corps second lieutenant Adele Slivers helped bridge a gap between traditional healing practices and modern medicine. Arizona author Elsie Szecsy details momentous local challenges and achievements from this pivotal era in American medicine.