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1960s: Big progress for nurses

During the decade of civil rights unrest, WSNA opposed discrimination in nursing, secured mandatory licensure and school nurse certification, and achieved significant improvements in pay and working conditions.

This story appears in We’ve had your back since 1908.

History banner 1960s

As the country was going through major unrest over civil rights, WSNA took a stand against barriers of discrimination for professional nurses. WSNA also secured mandatory licensure for nurses, certification of school nurses, and significant improvements in pay and working conditions.

  • 34 bill signing mandatory licensure
    WSNA member Inez Cline, committee on legislation member, and WSNA President Helen Hanson watch Gov. Albert Rosellini sign WSNA’s bill for mandatory licensing of registered nurses. (1961)
  • 34 1967 sept mass resignations
    More than 1,000 Seattle-area nurses listen as their 1967-69 contract is discussed at a mass meeting in the San Juan Rooms of the Seattle Center. ANA then had a no-strike policy. More than 1,200 nurses signed conditional resignations. After a new contract was signed, all eventually returned to work. (1967)
1960-1969 timeline

In 1960, WSNA recommitted to removing barriers of discrimination for professional nurses wherever they existed.

In 1961, after several years of lobbying by WSNA, Washington became the 23rd state to achieve mandatory licensure for registered nurses.

Certification of school nurses was approved by the State Board of Education, effective July 1, 1961 — the culmination of eight years of work by WSNA members

In 1963, the internationally acclaimed nursing education film “Mrs. Reynolds Needs a Nurse” debuted. Written by former WSNA President Dolores “Deo” Little, the film documented the case of an elderly woman whose eight-month hospitalization showcased the importance of individualized care and demonstrated the nurse’s role as a patient advocate with clinical competencies — an early version of today’s nurse case managers.

In 1965, Mary Lux became the first registered nurse and WSNA member elected to the Washington State Legislature, one of 10 women serving at the time.

In 1967, more than 1,200 of the 1,700 RNs in 22 Seattle-area hospitals signed conditional mass resignations to protest the Hospital Council’s proposed labor contract. Nurses were paid $400 per month, significantly lagging behind teachers and secretaries in pay and benefits. At the time, ANA had a no-strike policy. WSNA won a new contract with substantial improvements in salaries and working conditions. Later that year, ANA rescinded its no-strike policy.

In 1969, WSNA introduced legislation proposing labor relations rights for employees of nonprofit health care facilities, including binding arbitration to prevent strikes. This bill did not pass until 1972.

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Nurse Boatman is Now “Your Honor, the Mayor”

Washington State Journal of Nursing, January 1962

34 boatman mayor

From operating room to the Mayor's desk in city hall is now the daily routine for Joanna Boatman, first woman mayor in any Cowlitz County city and first WSNA member to achieve this distinction.

Miss Boatman, former General Duty Section chairman for the state, has been a member of the town council in Kalama since 1959 and was appointed by her fellow council members in November to fill out the unexpired term of the former mayor.

An assistant head surgical nurse at Cowlitz General Hospital at Longview, she spends mornings, early afternoons and weekends at the hospital and spends at least two days a week on town business.

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Nursing stamp

34 postage stamp

Issued on Dec. 28, 1961, the 4-cent nursing stamp was suggested to Sen. Warren G. Magnuson by Seattle Fire Captain Stephen E. Sanislo who “was so impressed by the nursing care I received that I thought the kindly attention administered by nurses everywhere ought to be recognized.” The stamp commemorated the 100th anniversary of nurses; formalized training of nurses in professional schools began in the U.S. in 1861.

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Teaching Film Of “Deo’s” Case Scheduled Here

Washington State Journal of Nursing, September 1963

34 mrs reynolds needs a nurse filming
Below: Dolores Little, right, smiles at student nurse Judy Lone on the set of her teaching film at University Hospital. In the back, from left: Jack Long; Robert Anderson, producer-director; and Dick France.

World premiere of a nursing education film by WSNA member Dolores Little will be held this October in Seattle. “Mrs. Reynolds Needs A Nurse,” Miss Little’s case history of a difficult patient, will take on an extended life span with the premiere, since the sponsoring firm plans 400 showings in this country alone.

Miss Little, associate professor of nursing, University of Washington, has used the case, which she compiled at Harborview County Hospital when she was a supervisor there, for illustration in numerous lectures. It shows how a cooperative nursing care plan that includes consideration of a patient’s emotional needs changes a difficult patient into a contented one—at less total nursing care time.

Smith, Kline and French, a pharmaceutical firm, became interested in the case-history and employed Robert Anderson Ltd., of Ottawa, Canada, to produce it.

Miss Little, who worked on the script, was also drafted to play “herself” as the supervisor, when the filming took place this summer at University Hospital, using nursing school and hospital personnel. Miss Virginia Olcott, associate professor, plays the difficult patient and Mrs. Maxine L. Patrick, assistant nursing professor, the head nurse who resists change.

Mrs. Reynolds Needs a Nurse became a nursing film classic and was part of many nursing school's regular curriculum for many years.

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Leadership

Executive Secretary / Director

  • 1948-1960 Mary Ella Adams
  • 1960-1966 Geraldine Fletcher
  • 1966-1968 Elizabeth Cantwell
  • 1968-1982 Beverly Smith

President

  • 1958-1960 Jeanne M. Irving
  • 1960-1964 Helen A. Hanson
  • 1964-1966 Margaret B. Regan
  • 1966-1968 Dolores E. Little
  • 1968-1970 Dixie A. Wilkinson