The more things change, the more they stay the same.
In 1920, the Wyoming State Board of Health deemed it appropriate to appoint Agnes Cogan as the supervisor of Public Health Nursing in the state of Wyoming.1 This was the first mention of public health nursing in the minutes of the board meetings.
This program, funding wise, was tenuous. Their budget allocation for 1925 was $3,200, as opposed to an $8,000 budget that was given in 1920. Frustration was aired in the report as it stated that “at the same hour, on the same night, it [the State Legislature] appropriated $10,000 for the hygiene of bees.”
The first Wyoming Public Health Nurses.
Memories abound for Penelope (Penny) Gordon Johnson who became the first public health nurse in the Big Horn Basin when she started the public health nursing services for Big Horn County in December, 1936.
Reminisce: Off to Berkeley. Chapter 1
Reminisce: Over the Mountain Chapter 2
Establishing PHN Services in Wyoming
PLANS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING SERVICE IN WYOMING
Approved by the State Board of Health–November, 1936.
Rules and Regulations: circa 1936
And you thought your dress code was strict. Read the rules for the first Public Health Nursing dress code and behaviors.
At the close of 1940, the personnel of this division consisted of the director and thirteen Public Health Nurses. The nurses were placed in the counties listed; along with the date on which the service started.
Annual Report Nursing Services:
July 1, 1979 through June 30, 1980
Submitted by Elta Kennedy,
75 years later:
Decades of serving Wyoming residents, as world events form Public Health Nursing in Wyoming
We’ve come a long way. See what we’re doing now.