Sally Lucas Jean (June 18, 1878 – July 5, 1971) was an American health educator and nurse.

Biography

Sally Lucas Jean was born June 18, 1878, the youngest child of three to George and Emilie Watkins (née Selby) Jean in

Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltim ...

, Maryland. Her mother was a southerner while her father had fought for the north in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Her father was a teacher. He died when Jean was fifteen. Jean was encouraged to follow him into the teaching profession and she graduated in 1896 from Maryland State Normal School. However Jean had a particular interest. She had played

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

in a school play shortly after losing her friend to

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

. The events interested her in a nursing career and she went on to graduate from Maryland Homoepathic Training School for Nurses in 1898. Jean served as an army nurse during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

and

Chickamauga, Georgia Chickamauga is a city in Walker County, Georgia, Walker County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. The population was 2,917 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee, TN–GA Chattanooga metropo ...

, her first post. She returned home to work as a private nurse and later a school and playground nurse. Later Jean went on to become a pioneering educator coining the term ''health education''. In 1914 she became the director of Maryland's Social Health Service before going in 1917 to New York to organise a People's Institute Department of Health Service. She then went on to supervise health education for the U.S. Indian Service in 1934/35. As a result of her work during the First world war, when she served on New York Academy of Medicine's Committee on Wartime Problems of Childhood and seeing the impact it had on the population, she was director of the establishment of the Child Health Organization which went on to be the American Child Health Association when it merged with the American Child Hygiene Association in 1923. Jean went on to work as the director of the Health Education department there. She worked as a consultant internationally from 1924 to the 1950s, developing health education programs in China, Japan, Philippines, Virgin Islands and Panama Canal Zone as well as working with companies and for

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

summer school in 1942, the Colorado River War Relocation Authority from 1942 to 1943 and the

National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...

in 1944. Jean lived with her secretary and friend Dorothy Goodwin. Jean died 5 July 1971. Her papers and publications are part of the Louise Round Wilson Special collection at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. ''Sally Lucas Jean, 1878-1971, health education pioneer'' was written by Marguerite Vollmer in 1973.

External links

American National Biography

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jean, Sally Lucas 1878 births 1971 deaths American military nurses American women nurses People from Towson, Maryland