Harriet L. Leete (December 14, 1871 — November 19, 1927) was an

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

nurse during World War I.

Early life

Leete was born in

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, the daughter of Franklin Leet and Louise Jones Leet. Her father (who spelled his name without a final E) was a farmer and a justice of the peace.

Career

Before World War I, Leete was superintendent of nurses at the Babies' Dispensary and Hospital in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and a nationally recognized expert on infant care. Leete was a charter member of the National Committee on Red Cross Nursing Service."The Passing of Harriet L. Leete"
''American Journal of Nursing'' (January 1928): 71-72. In 1917, she was in the first hospital unit to sail from the United States for France, as a member of the Lakeside Base Hospital Unit of Cleveland. In Paris she worked with the Red Cross Children's Bureau. She was chief nurse at the American Red Cross Hospital Number 5, at

Auteuil Auteuil may refer to: Places * Auteuil, Oise, a commune in France * Auteuil, Paris, a neighborhood of Paris ** Auteuil, Seine, the former commune which was on the outskirts of Paris * Auteuil, Quebec, a former city that is now a district within ...

. She went to work for the Balkan Commission, as Chief Nurse for northern Serbia, based at Belgrade Hospital. She contracted typhus at Palanka and returned to the United States in July 1919. The Serbian government awarded Leete the Order of St. Sava for her wartime efforts. After the war, she was field director of the American Child Hygiene Association, which involved extensive travel and lecturing. "This twentieth century does belong to the child," she wrote, "and unless we as nurses — not just public health nurses, but all nurses — meet this challenge... we shall be liable to the reproach of those who follow us."Arlene W. Keeling
"Nurses, Babies, and Public Health"
in Arlene W. Keeling, John C. Kirchgessner, Michelle C. Hehman, eds., ''History of Professional Nursing in the United States: Toward a Culture of Health'' (Springer 2017): 216-217. From 1925 until her death, she was superintendent at a convalescent home in Far Rockaway, New York."Miss Harriet L. Leete"
''New York Times'' (November 21, 1927): 23.

Personal life

Leete died in 1927, aged 56 years, at a hospital on Long Island, from complications after an ear infection.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leete, Harriet L. 1871 births 1927 deaths American nurses American women nurses American women in World War I Recipients of the Order of St. Sava 20th-century American people