Tribute to Nursing

Tribute to Nursing by artist Sam Donovan was located in the City Center neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the American Nurses Association (ANA) 2002 Biennial Convention in Philadelphia, the city’s first Nursing Mural was displayed on the corner of Broad and Cherry streets. The mural was initiated by the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Nursing Committee of the Greater Philadelphia Health Care Congress, The Independence Foundation and 16 nursing alumni associations in the Philadelphia area. A nursing advisory panel worked with the Philadelphia Department of Recreation Mural Arts Program (now Mural Arts Philadelphia) on the concept of the mural, which was created by Donovan, a local artist. The mural complements the American Nurses Association’s convention theme, Nurses Care for America, by honoring some of the nation’s greatest nurses, including Helen Fairchild, Mary Ann Krisman-Scott and Walt Whitman.

Panel 1 shows an anonymous African-American pediatric nurse and patient, along with a World War II nurse who is also African-American.

Panel 2 depicts an Asian perioperative nurse.

Panel 3 uses images from a World War II government nurse recruitment poster, along with a ghosted image of nurse Mary Anne Krisman-Scott comforting a wounded soldier in Vietnam. She is now a nurse practitioner and well-known nurse historian.

Panel 4 portrays Helen Fairchild, who was one of the first 60 nurses sent to Europe with the Allies during World War I. She was subject to gas attacks near the front lines. She later became ill in France and died in 1918. American Legion Post 412 in Philadelphia is named for her.

Panel 5 shows Lula Warwick who came to Mercy Hospital in 1920 and built the nursing school into one of the top schools for African-Americans in the country. Walt Whitman is shown because he provided care to the wounded during the Civil War; an image of an anonymous male nurse is also shown. The panel includes a depiction of Barbara Brody, a pioneering pediatric nurse practitioner, examining a patient.

The mural also includes the following quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Without good and careful nursing many must suffer greatly and probably perish that might have been restored to health and comfort, and become useful to themselves, their families, and the public for many years after”.

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (replaced by The Evolving Face of Nursing ca. 2010).