Pioneer in Florida Public Health Nursing: The Work of Joyce Ely, RN

Abstract

Victoria Joyce Ely was a prominent figure in Florida public health during the first half of the 20th century. She was born in Illinois and graduated from St. Luke’s Hospital School for Nurses (St. Louis, MO) in 1915. During her early career, she spent 23 months with the Washington University Base Hospital in France as a member of the Army Nurse Corps in World War I. Ely came to Florida in 1923 to work as a company nurse in the cypress lumber industry in Perry, Florida. Infectious diseases such as yellow fever were endemic. Ely worked to improve sanitation and teach basic health principles to workers and their families. In 1930, Ely took a position at the State Board of Health. She was asked to oversee the many untrained “granny” midwives delivering babies in the state. In 1931, the state legislature passed the Midwifery Act in an effort to control the safety and sanitation of childbirth. She attended nurse midwifery training and then traveled the state for several years, offering midwife “institutes” or short training programs to teach midwives basic skills such as cleanliness, infant weights, and registration of births. Ely finished her career in Ruskin, Florida, where she served with the Hillsborough County Health Department. She retired in Ruskin, where she died in 1979. The county health center in that community is named for her. In 2002, Ely was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame. Ely’s career, including her pioneering work against infectious disease amidst limited resources serves as an inspiration to today’s healthcare providers.