Interview with Alberta Kelly, April 26, 1979

Partial Transcript: This is an interview with Mrs. Clinton Kelly for the Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project by Dale Deaton...

Segment Synopsis: Alberta Kelly is introduced. She talks about learning about the FNS through her parents who were members of the FNS Board of Governors. She describes her visits to the FNS headquarters at Wendover as a child, and talks about the staff's attitudes toward Mary Breckinridge.

Keywords: Board members; Closeness; Couriers; Fathers; Fording rivers; Frontier Nursing Service Board of Governors; Garden House; Jeeps; Mary Breckinridge; Mothers; Personality; Presence; Respect; Staff; Teas; Visiting

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Nurses; Rural conditions; Rural roads

Partial Transcript: Now you became a, a board member in '75? Is that right?

Segment Synopsis: Kelly talks about the attitudes of the local people toward the FNS and the changes that occurred when women began working outside the home, as well as when the local people began to have more representation on the FNS Board of Governors.

Keywords: Acceptance; Advisory committee; Attitudes; Board members; Changes; Control; Discussion; Frontier Nursing Service Board of Governors; Local people; Local representation; Mary Breckinridge; Stereotypes; Women

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical centers--Administration

Partial Transcript: About the staff in the sixties as compared to af--'75 and later.

Segment Synopsis: Kelly talks more about the local people's attitudes toward the FNS, as well as the attitudes of the staff and how they changed over time. She talks about the expectations of the staff regarding their job duties and loyalty to the FNS, and discusses the locals' expectations of the services offered by the FNS.

Keywords: Attitudes; Changes; Charges; Comparison; Competition; Costs; Criticism; Dedication; Doctors; Expectations; Fees; Government reimbursement; Helen Browne ("Brownie"); Medicaid; Medicare; Nurse midwives; Payments; Regulations; Staff

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical centers--Administration; Medical centers--Finance; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Now, sort of go along the same line. Expand upon that a little bit.

Segment Synopsis: Kelly discusses the importance of preventative care and how it conflicts with hospitals in terms of profits.

Keywords: "Mixed blessings"; Family nurse practitioners; Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery; Government reimbursement; Healthcare; Preventive care; Preventive medicine

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

Partial Transcript: Talk a little bit more about what you spoke earlier--(coughs)--in regard to people who were prepared to dedicate eighteen, twenty hours a day--

Segment Synopsis: Kelly talks about changes in the FNS staff since Mary Breckinridge's death. She talks about the difference between VISTA volunteers and the couriers at the FNS. She talks about her parents shielding her from gossip and negative information.

Keywords: Alcoholism; Attitudes; Changes; Couriers; Dedication; Directors; Fathers; Fundraising; Helen Browne ("Brownie"); Kate Ireland; Leslie County (Ky.); Married; Mary Breckinridge; Mothers; New hospital; Politics; Presence; Staff; War on Poverty

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical centers--Administration; Nurses; Rural health services; Volunteers in Service to America

Partial Transcript: Let's come up to 1975.

Segment Synopsis: Kelly discusses the idea that the complaints made by the local people about the FNS are similar to family members quarreling amongst each other, and are perhaps related to wider societal changes.

Keywords: Adaptability; Attitudes; Complaints; Criticisms; Dr. Beasley; Families; Helen Browne ("Brownie"); Kate Ireland; Local people; Societal changes

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical centers--Administration; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Let's talk a little bit about the combination of Red Bird, Flat Creek, and the Bob Fork clinics.

Segment Synopsis: Kelly discusses the future of the FNS, including the fundraising efforts by local people for various outpost clinics, future government regulations that may affect the FNS, and the possibility of closing Wendover. She also briefly discusses Mary Breckinridge's views on government funding for the FNS. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Clinics; Closing; Committees; Congress; Donations; Federal government; Frontier Nursing Service Board of Governors; Funding; Fundraising; Future; Government regulations; Impact; Influence; Leadership; Mary Breckinridge; Profits; Sacrifices; Volunteers

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Fund raising; Health facilities.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical centers--Administration; Medical centers--Cost of operation; Medical centers--Finance; Rural health services