Professional nursing underwent a cataclysm of change during the active years of the Student Health Coalition. From the beginning, students in the Coalition nurtured those changes. Often, without even a plan or much in the way of self-awareness, certainly without a political agenda, at least at first, young nurses and nursing students who joined the Coalition embraced their mission to build a practice based on the needs of the communities. Their embrace often brought them up against opposition from existing health care culture and state and federal law. Eventually, nurses, alongside their medical, legal, and community partners, became powerful spokespeople for community health needs, including the need to expand existing nurse practice paradigms.
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Carolyn Burr reflects
In this clip, Burr reflects on how the experience of working with the Coalition shaped her values and future career in nursing. Recorded at a 2013 Student Health Coalition reunion in Nashville, Tenn. Continued
Margaret Ecker on her inspiration to pursue nursing
Margaret Ecker shares about early career pursuits and explains how the Student Health Coalition (SHC) played a prominent role in steering her toward a life of service through nursing. Recorded on June 2, 2018. Full footage of the conversation… Continued
Minnie Bommer’s encounter with hospital segregation
Having overcome the adversity of racially biased employment discrimination imposed upon her at the outset of her nursing career, Minnie Bommer shares also about the realities of healthcare inequities and segregation experienced post-hire at a hospital in Covington, Tenn. Recorded… Continued
Sally Kimberly’s take on patient education in rural healthcare
Sally Kimberly discusses clinical challenges during her time as a nurse practitioner with Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) in Norma, Tenn., focusing specifically on the indispensable role of patient education in effective rural healthcare. Full footage of Sally Kimberly’s interview with Rick Davidson. Continued
Dana Ellis
Dana worked West Tennessee health fairs in the summers of 1973 and 1974 while a student in the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt. She served as co-director of the Student Health Coalition alongside George Smith who was in medical school… Continued
Bill Dow
Bill Dow co-founded the Student Health Coalition while in medical school at Vanderbilt University, in 1969. His larger-than-life role in the SHC origin story and beyond warrants special telling, which we attempt in the essay that follows. Contributed by Margaret… Continued
Dana Ellis: Personal reflections
In this video clip, Dana Ellis reflects on her personal experiences as a student nurse working with community leaders in rural West Tennessee back in the early 1970s and how that work affected her career and her life. Continued
The Smithville Story
Learn more about Rod Lorenz on his profile page. More on Tennessee: More on Nursing: Continued
Martha Stucker
Martha was a Catholic nun and a registered nurse working in East Tennessee at the Clairfield clinic in 1969 when Bill Dow first encountered her and engaged her help in designing student-run health fairs. She had been conducting primary care… Continued
Caryl Carpenter talks about the origins of the Tennessee Primary Care Association
Caryl Carpenter, former administrator of the Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) of East Tennessee, talks about formation of the Tennessee Primary Care Association. Recorded on May 17, 2017, as a part of a panel discussion at a reunion of the… Continued
How to do followup after a health fair
Ann Baile Hamric on continuing care, local resources, and navigating through Appalachia. Continued
Welmoet Spreij
Contributed by Welmoet Spreij, Amsterdam, 2017. I came to Nashville as a Dutch exchange-student in the fall of 1969 and took some classes at Vanderbilt University. While attending a course in philosophy, I came to know John Davis, Dick Burr,… Continued
Pete Moss
Contributed by Pete Moss and Jennifer Crane, March 2016. Dr. Pete Moss was raised on his maternal grandparents’ farm in Marshall County, Tenn., while his father fought in World War II. As the eldest of his siblings, he learned responsibility,… Continued
Becca Ingle on the SHC and community healthcare
Becca Ingle, R.N., F.N.P. shares about her experience with the Student Health Coalition (SHC) in the summer of 1974 and discusses its profound influence on later becoming a nurse practitioner. She also explains how the organization facilitated a shift in… Continued
Lewis Lefkowitz recalls the legacy of Marie Cirillo and impact of local nurses
Lewis Lefkowitz highlights Marie Cirillo’s contributions to the work of the Student Health Coalition (SHC) and discusses the role of nursing in promoting public health. Recorded on December 1, 2015. Full footage of his recollection about the development of… Continued
Tom John on the Student Health Coalition and community self-determination
Tom John, M.D. comments on his work with the Student Health Coalition (SHC) in 1971. He shares that one of the most powerful takeaways from this learning experience was an introduction to and participation in the development of community health… Continued
How the perception of nurse practitioners and midwives has changed over time
Rick Davidson asks Sally Kimberly to reflect on how the role and societal perception of nurse practitioners and midwives has evolved—from the time she first became certified in the early 1970s to present day. She celebrates that the profession has… Continued
Ann Baile Hamric
Ann participated in the Coalition in 1970, the first summer that the Coalition conducted multiple health fairs in middle and eastern Tennessee. She had just graduated from Vanderbilt School of Nursing. Ann was instrumental in the establishment of structured followup… Continued
Diane Lauver
Contributed by Diane Lauver, February 2018 Growing up, I was close to my paternal grandparents; they lived in a pastoral valley looking at Appalachian hills in a northern state. With their 8th grade educations and practical wisdom, they taught me… Continued
Article: “Health Care for those off the beaten path,” from the Tennessee Valley Authority
Kollar, Robert. “Health care for those off the beaten path.” Tennessee Valley Authority, post-1975. View PDF. More on the Tennessee Valley Authority: Continued
A conversation with Martha Stucker
Martha Stucker shares about her time working in the mountains from 1968-1972, and explains her role as a nurse practitioner focused on meeting community needs. Continued
J. Thomas “Tom” John
I am a bit late in getting my bio in, best done in the earlier stages of pending dotage. I am originally from Laurinburg, N.C., a small farming and, then, textile community in the eastern part of the state. I… Continued
Article: “Health Fair Attracts 1,080 Here,” from the Grundy County Herald
Click image to enlarge. More on Grundy County: Continued
Margaret Ecker
I joined the Coalition as a community organizer after graduating from Vanderbilt in Philosophy in 1970. I stayed on with the Coalition through the next school year to help with year end reports and preparation for the next summer. Inspired… Continued
Richard Davidson
Richard Davidson was born in West Palm Beach, Fla. in 1947. He attended Vanderbilt undergraduate and medical schools, and did a residency in internal medicine there as well. During the summer of his second year in medical school (1970) he… Continued
Cathy Barrow Heck and Jeff Heck
Contributed by Cathy Barrow Heck I was absolutely sold on the Appalachian Student Health Coalition upon seeing the video as a nursing student in the fall of 1973. The idea of a team of students working in partnership with rural… Continued
“What it took” – Nine nurses reconvene fifty years later and discover the power of common denominators
Nine nurses gathered in Nashville in May 2019 to reminisce about their beginnings as nurses. Nursing practice underwent radical changes in those days. These nine nurses stood apart from their peers and in conflict with convention. Here, they discuss what… Continued
Sally Kimberly on the professional development of nurses with MPHC
Sally Kimberly describes what became an essential element to her and other nurses’ weekly routines while working in Scotty County: self-directed educational sessions committed to their professional development. She explains that these weekly meetings were both a professional and social support system… Continued
Sally Kimberly’s first observations of rural community healthcare with MPHC
Sally Kimberly discusses her preparation for practice and early experiences with Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) at the clinic in Norma, Tenn. Full footage of Sally Kimberly’s interview with Rick Davidson. Continued
Pete Moss reflects
On training nurses, reuniting with fellow Coalitioners, and being a non-conformist. Learn more about Pete Moss on his profile page. Continued
Minnie Bommer on racially charged employment discrimination and her journey to nursing career
Minnie Bommer shares her tumultuous experience at the outset of her nursing career, detailing the extent of racially biased obstacles intended to bar her from hire at hospitals in Tipton County, Tenn. Recorded on June 1, 2018. Full footage… Continued
Sally Kimberly on MPHC community boards
Sally Kimberly discusses the challenges of collaborating with community boards on the frontier of a practice largely unfamiliar in Appalachia at the time—community-driven, rural healthcare. Unique to her and other nurse practitioners’ experience was a widespread misunderstanding about their role. Reminiscing about these hurdles, Sally shares what it was like to be… Continued
Rebecca Joffrion Ingle
Contributed by Rebecca (Becca) Joffrion Ingle. I was born in Starkeville, Miss. in 1952, but grew up from age 5 in Huntsville, Ala. This small, sleepy Alabama town exploded in growth and diversity during those years with the coming of… Continued
Nurse Practitioners, in the beginning…
Community leaders recognized early on the added value nurses with expanded roles brought to the table. In this video clip, community leaders Marie Cirillo and Betty Anderson recollect their efforts to lobby for legal changes that would continue to support… Continued
Sally Kimberly on becoming a nurse midwife
Sally Kimberly traces her personal development in the medical field and shares what inspired her to become a practicing nurse and midwife with the National Health Service Corps and Mountain People’s Health Councils (MPHC) in Scotty County, Tenn. from 1974-1982. … Continued