This Week in Texas Methodist History, August 16

 

Houston Methodist Hospital Begins Recruiting Drive for Nurses School, August, 1948

 

 

 

In these pandemic times, we have all been reminded of the debt we owe to nurses who are on the front lines working overtime risking their lives to provide professional healing ministries to patients.

It is a time to reflect on the role of Houston Methodist Hospital (today’s Houston Methodist) in educating nurses.  

 

Nursing education began mainly as apprenticeships but during the 20^th century there were increasing demands for professionalization of nursing.  That meant both increasing educational standards and state licensure.   Methodist Hospital in Houston was an important institution in that process. 

 

Marie Louise Luppold, Director of Nursing, Houston Methodist, guided the School of Nursing through two main expansions. 

 

The first big push was World War II.  The huge demand for nurses for both the active military and veterans made recruitment of nurses in numbers never seen before imperative.  Houston Methodist Hospital entered into an agreement with the U. S. government and the University of Houston to train nurses. 

 

The first graduating class under this program and the fifteenth graduating class of Houston Methodist received their diplomas in June 1942.  Ten of the eighteen graduates went directing into military service.   The graduation ceremony was held at St. Paul’s Methodist church near the Methodist Hospital which at that time was located on San Jacinto.  Robert Goodrich, then of Riverside Church in Houston, gave the commencement address.  The graduates received associate’s degrees from the University of Houston as well as their nurse’s diploma. 

 

The second big push was the establishment of the Texas Medical Center.  The idea for a medical center began in the early 1940s with the trustees of the M. D. Anderson Foundation.  Eventually a 134 acre site adjacent to Hermann Hospital and Hermann Park became the Texas Medical Center after a 1943 vote by Houstonians to agree to sell the property.  By 1948 plans were underway to move Houston Methodist from San Jacinto to its present location fronting on Fannin Street to join the other institutions in the fledgling TMC.  By 1955 those institutions  would include M. D. Anderson Hospital (the University of Texas), Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Arabia Temple (now Shriner’s) Hospital for Crippled Children, and the UT Dental School.  Since 1955 even more facilities have been added.

 

Everyone knew that the demand for nurses would continue so Marie Luppold embarked on another recruiting drive even more ambitious than the World War II drive..  She asked all Texas Methodist pastors to recruit high school graduates from their churches---all female at this time.  They were offered free room, board, and laundry.  They would receive classroom instruction at the University of Houston and practical training in the hospital.  In three years they would receive an associate’s degree and nurse’s licensing.  Their total out of pocket expenditure for the three years would be $326 for tuition, but if a young woman couldn’t afford that, scholarships were available. 

 

Well into the 21^st century Texas Conference Journals report the recipients of Methodist Student Nursing Scholarships given through the Good Samaritan Foundation. 

 

On a personal note:   One of the Methodists who received her nursing education at Houston Methodist was my Aunt Virginia Hardt.  I look back with gratitude for the opportunity she received---having lost her father while still a teenager, the family without resources; she was able to receive a first class education in an important profession---thank you Houston Methodist.