Dorothea Dix Research Paper

Life and Work of Dorothea Dix
Famous Nurse of the Civil War
Lisa Mitchler
Brown Mackie College
NUR 1201 Foundations of Nursing 1

Abstract
Dorothea Dix was a social reformer dedicated to changing conditions for people who could not help themselves; the mentally ill and imprisoned. Not only a crusader, she was also a teacher, author, lobbyist, and superintendent of nurses during the Civil War. Through her work of over 20 years, Dix instituted changes in the care and treatment of the mentally ill and improved prison conditions. The results of her efforts can be seen throughout the United States, Canada, and many European countries (Viney, 2008)

Dorothea was born in a small town of Hampden, Maine on April …show more content…
In 1841, Dix volunteered to teach Sunday school for women at a local jail. At this time Dix’s mission changed and she set fourth to make a difference in this type of environment. Dix was shocked to have observed the prostitutes, drunks, criminals, disabled individuals and mentally ill were all housed together in unheated, unfurnished, and foul smelling quarters (Bumb, 2008). She toured every facility in Massachusetts and documented the conditions and treatment of the mentally ill. She was told that the mentally ill did not have feelings therefore they did not need the bare necessities. Throughout the 1840’s Dix was consumed with creating action plans guaranteeing safe facilities for the mentally ill. In January 1843 she submitted a detailed report to the legislature. The report grabbed the attention of people in high places and a bill was passed in Massachusetts. Dix then travelled to every state along the east coast creating 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the disabled, a school for the blind and numerous training facilities for nurses (Bomb, 2008). In 1852 with the support of President Millard Fillmore the construction of a hospital that would benefit Army and Navy veterans would be built (Bumb, …show more content…
She developed asylums, inspected over 500 almshouses, over 300 jails and correctional facilities. She was compared to Saint Teresa by the Pope (Gollaher, 1995). Upon her return to America, Dix traveled to Texas and other parts of the South to continue her work. Then the Civil War began and she volunteered as a nurse in the Army. She was named Superintendent of Army Nurses in 1861. She was an advocated for women’s rights in the military. She remained this position until 1866. She then spent a year helping families locate missing men who had served in the war. In 1867 she returned to her work with the hospitals. In the end, Dix’s career spanned forty years and motivated legislatures in fourteen states to pass bills for the humane treatment of the mentally ill. As a result thirty two hospitals were built. Her health began to deteriorate in 1881 at the age of seventy-nine. She checked herself into a state hospital in Trenton. A hospital that she helped found. She passed away at age eighty-five in 1887 (Parry,

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