The Ellis Health Law, which created the framework for the establishment of County Boards of
Health, was passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 1914. Although there were four county
health departments in Georgia in 1916, the first public health nurse was hired by the state in
1922 as a result of the Sheppard Towner Act, federal legislation that required state matching funds.
The first public health nurse was assigned to the “healthmobile” for the “benefit of expectant
mothers, mothers, and young children” (Abercrombie, 106–107).
Prior to 1922, non-official, non-governmental agencies and volunteers, such as Visiting Nurse
Associations, the American Red Cross, voluntary health agencies, and community volunteer
groups, provided nursing services to communities (Roberts, 191). An example was the Mary
MacLean Association in Savannah; there, a group of young women organized in 1903 to provide
services to the sick poor. They employed Henrietta Meyers, a nursing school graduate from New
York, in 1905; she “carried for the first time into many homes not only the tender ministrations
of a trained mind and skillful hands, but also furnished that fundamental education in domestic
hygiene so often sadly lacking” (Joye, Barbara, Public Health Nursing Pioneered in Savannah,
DHR news release to Savannah, 1993).
“In 1910, the American Red Cross Nursing Service was pioneered in Georgia (as elsewhere) and
established a nursing service in Atlanta as early as 1910.” From 1919–1930, Red Cross nurses
functioned in 25 different counties in Georgia (Manual of Public Health Nursing, Vol. I1,
Georgia Department of Public Health 1949, 11).
The “roaring twenties” was a time of expansion of public health nursing. Programs included
midwife training and supervision, and a diphtheria immunization campaign. Community interest
in public health led to the establishment of county health departments. Appling County began
its public health program in 1923 when the Women’s Club and the Parents and Teachers
Association ladies began trying to help with some of the health problems of the county (Baxley 7
Chapter 1
Savannah Health Center.
Prior to 1922, non-official,
non-governmental agencies
and volunteers, such as
Visiting Nurse Associations,
the American Red Cross,
voluntary health agencies,
and community volunteer
groups, provided nursing
services to communities.
1
News Banner September 23, 1993). In the same year, public health nursing was first organized in
Georgia by the State Board of Health through the Division of Child Hygiene. With assistance
from Sheppard-Towner funds, “itinerant nurses worked directly from the State Board of Health
and other nurses worked in cities and counties where local funds have been appropriated.”
(Winchester, ME, MD, DrPH, Official Bulletin on A Brief History of Public Health Work in
Georgia, An Address Delivered before the Medical Association of Georgia at Athens, May 11,
1927, p. 9). By 1930, 32 counties were operating health departments, and 42 percent of the
state’s population was being served by local health organizations (Abercrombie, 99).