Interview with Betty Lester, March 3, 1978

Partial Transcript: It's March 3rd, 1978 at the home of Miss Betty Lester in Hyden, Kentucky. The following is an interview with Miss Lestser by a group of couriers, who are volunteers for the Frontier Nursing Service.

Segment Synopsis: Betty Lester is introduced. She gives a history of Mary Breckinridge's life before she came to Leslie County.

Keywords: Ailments; Babies; Beech Fork (Ky.); Children; County seats; Death; Deliver babies; Delivery; Doctors; Family history; France; Generations; Goats; Help; Helping; Horseback; Houses; Illnesses; Isolation; Lexington Cemetery; Milk; Mountains; Nurse midwives; Operations; Orphans; Poor; Premature; Rehabilitation; Russia; Starving; Supervision; Surveys; Switzerland; Treatment

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Childbirth; England; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Hyden (Ky.); Kentucky; Leslie County (Ky.); Lexington (Ky.).; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; New York (N.Y.); Poor--Medical care; Rural schools--Appalachian Region; Schools; Wendover (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well, she came around. She talked to the people, talked to the judges, talked to doctors, talked to anybody. Went up the creeks, met all the various people up the creeks.

Segment Synopsis: Lester discusses the education levels and potential of the local people.

Keywords: Children; Dormitories; High school; IQs; Intelligence Quotient; Low income; Opportunities; Poor; Railroads; Roads; Schoolhouses; Schools; Surveys; Teachers; Testing

Subjects: Berea College; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; Hyden (Ky.); Mary Breckinridge

Partial Transcript: One of our first--one of the first nurses who helped Mrs. Breckinridge who did come in here was a local--was a girl from here who had gone out to somewhere in Pennsylvania and got her training.

Segment Synopsis: Lester discusses why Mary Breckinridge chose Leslie County as the location to begin her clinic. She also talks about where midwives were trained.

Keywords: Ailments; Babies; British Hospital for Mothers and Babies; Central Midwives Board; Charity; Children; Deliver babies; Delivery; Diphtheria; Diseases; Doctors; Epidemics; Farms; Help; Helping; Horseback; Illnesses; Maternal mortality rate; Mountains; Pregnancy; Pregnant; Prenatal; Pride; Regulations; Rules; Sickness; Training; Traveling; Treatment; Typhoid; Worms

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Childbirth; Education; England; Europe; Lexington (Ky.).; Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services; Traditional farming--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: And the doctors in Lexington were very interested. And all of the specialists gave her a sort of a routine that the nurses would follow. See, we nurses don't prescribe and we don't diagnose.

Segment Synopsis: Lester talks about Mary Breckinridge's nurses coming into the area and the reactions of the local people.

Keywords: Ailments; Care; Children; Clinics; Diseases; Drugs; Fund raising; Help; Helping; Home visits; Horses; Houses; Illnesses; Injuries; Medicine; Money; Public health; Sores; Survey; Treatment; Work; Working; Wounds

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; England; France; Hyden (Ky.); Leslie County (Ky.); Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: So that's--and then Mrs. Breckinridge, of course, had to get the money to--to--to--she ran it on her own money for a few months but, of course, she couldn't do that for very long.

Segment Synopsis: Lester talks about the beginning of the Frontier Nursing Service and the six outpost clinics built by Mary Breckinridge.

Keywords: Ailments; Beech Fork; Build; Burgess; Burlington; Children; Committees; Confluence; Diphtheria; Diseases; Doctors; F.N.S.; FNS; Flat Creek; Fund raising; Help; Helping; Hospitals; Houses; Illnesses; Immunizations; Inoculations; Mary Breckinridge Hospital; Money; Needles; Outposts; Public health; Red Bird Center; Shots; Sickness; Smallpox; State Department of Health; Trea

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Hazard (Ky.); Hyden (Ky.); Lexington (Ky.).; Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services; Wendover (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: And then in 1931 the Depression hit us. When the Depression hit us, of course, we couldn't--I mean people couldn't send us any money after that because they had enough to do to keep their own house--own homes going.

Segment Synopsis: Lester talks about the care the Frontier Nursing Service provided for mothers before, during, and after childbirth.

Keywords: Advice; Babies; Clinics; Deliver babies; Delivery; Diet; Emergency kits; F.N.S.; FNS; Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery; Home birth; Home visits; Labor; Measurements; Money; Muscles; Patients; Poor; Pregnancy; Pregnant; Prenatals; Programs; Public health; Records; Register; Supplies; Teaching; Training; Treatment; Work

Subjects: Childbirth; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Education; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: The man would come. We didn't ride alone at night be--not because anybody would molest us, because they wouldn't. We were--we had our blue-gray uniform and everybody knew us.

Segment Synopsis: Lester discusses how nurses from the Frontier Nursing Service helped local women during childbirth.

Keywords: Ailments; Asphyxiation; Baby; Born; Deliver babies; Delivery; Doctors; F.N.S.; FNS; Family nurses; Help; Helping; Hemorrhages; Home birth; Horseback riding; Hospitals; Labor; Medical directors; Midwifery programs; Patients; Prenatal care; Records; Schools; Sickness; Treatment; Uniforms

Subjects: Childbirth; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: There weren't any midwifery schools in the states and everybody was--as I told you, Mrs. Breckinridge went to London to get her midwifery, and then if any American public health nurses came down here and wanted to stay, they had to be midwives.

Segment Synopsis: Lester talks about her midwife training and how she came to work in Kentucky.

Keywords: Dogs; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Help; Helping; Horseback; Horses; Learning; Midwifery schools; Public health nurses; Saving lives; Scholarships; Skills; Training; Uniforms; Work; Working

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; England; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Hyden (Ky.); Kentucky; Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services; Scotland; Wendover (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: What are some of the memories that, like, really stick out? I mean--

Segment Synopsis: Lester shares one of her most memorable field work stories.

Keywords: "Granny midwives"; Babies; Big Creek (Ky.); Bull Creek (Ky.); Childbirth; Children; Clinic days; Clinics; Deliver babies; Delivery; Delivery rooms; Families; Field work; Hospitals; Labor; Memories; Patients; Post-partum; Pregnancy; Pregnant; Services; Stillbirth delivery

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Why was the midwifery school started?

Segment Synopsis: Lester talks about why Mary Breckinridge started the Frontier Graduate School. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Advice; Babies; Birth control; Breastfeeding; Contraception; Doctors; Europe; Family planning; Hospitals; Learning; Mothers; Teaching; Training; Wars

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing; Mary Breckinridge; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services; World War, 1939-1945