Excellence
EXCELLENCE
The Cadet Nurse Corps Program was supervised by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) to train nurses during World War II. After America entered the war, the demand for nurses increased dramatically, outstripping the supply and creating a shortage.[1] Representative Frances P. Bolton of Ohio introduced her bill on March 29, 1943. The bill requested the establishment of a special government program to facilitate the accelerated training of nurses. Thus, a larger number of graduate nurses could be freed for military service overseas. Applicants would be granted subsidization of nursing school tuition, associated expenses and a shorter training period. In exchange, applicants pledged to actively serve in essential civilian or other federal government services for the duration of the war. In addition, the bill would provide certain funds for participating accredited schools of nursing to ensure that as many schools as possible took part in the Cadet Nurse Corps program.
The Nurse Training Act (known as the Bolton Act) passed Congress unanimously. The bill was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 15, 1943, and became Public Law 74 on July 1, 1943. The Cadet Nurse Corps (originally designated the Victory Nurse Corps) would be administered by the United States Public Health Service (PHS). The Division of Nurse Education was established in the PHS to supervise the Cadet Nurse Corps and was answerable to the U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran, Jr., who appointed Lucile Petry, a registered nurse (RN), as director of the Cadet Nurse Corps.
To qualify, the women were required to be between the ages of 17 and 35, a high school graduate or a college student, and in good health and mentally alert. Advertisements for the "war job with a future" promised free training with pay, room and board, and uniforms ("There's one for summer and one for winter, and it's hard to say which is the smarter, which you'll wear with more pride"). Applicants were assured they could wear "something frilly and feminine" for dances, and that they would have time for dating.[2]
Nursing schools throughout the country were informed of the Cadet Nurse Corps program and invited to join. Schools who wanted to take part in the program had to fulfill minimal requirements including being accredited and affiliated with a hospital approved by the American College of Surgeons. The staff and facilities had to be adequate, although superior standards were not required. Schools with substandard conditions were not rejected but rather supported with funds from the Corps to improve their training possibilities. When the Cadet Nurse Corps program ended, 1,125 of the 1,300 nursing schools in the country had participated. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadet_Nurse_Corps
http://www.cadetnurse.com/Welcome.html
H.R. 1718: United States Cadet Nurse Corps Equity Act 112th Congress, 2011–2012
To provide that service of the members of the organization known as the United States Cadet Nurse Corps during World War II constituted active military service for purposes of laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1718