Nora
Spencer Hamner
1895-1971
Memorial Hospital Training School,
Richmond, Virginia, 1914
- First nurse in Virginia with formal training in public health nursing
- First nurse to serve on a Board of Visitors of a state college or university in Virginia
- First Nancy Vance Pin Award recipient
- Served for forty-three years as Executive Director of the Richmond Area Tuberculosis Association
During World War I, Nora Spencer Hamner worked tirelessly to help people to be examined for tuberculosis while serving as a field nurse for 47 counties in Virginia. Under her leadership as Executive Secretary of the Richmond Area Tuberculosis Association, the first tuberculosis surveys of local industrial plants were developed and the first tuberculin testing was done. Hamner was instrumental in establishing an endowment for the Annual Nursing Lectureship of the Nursing Division of the Medical College of Virginia Alumni Association of Virginia Commonwealth University. The recipient of numerous local, state and national awards and citations for her untiring efforts in combating tuberculosis, Hamner was honored by the Virginia Tuberculosis Association in 1962 when an award was established in her name for persons making outstanding contributions to tuberculosis control.
Bibliography
"Her love of people, her sense of humor, her honesty and tolerance account for Nora Hamner's success."
Quoted by Dr. William T. Sanger, 1951
