Harriet L. Leete
Harriet L. Leete (December 14, 1871 — November 19, 1927) was an American Red Cross nurse during World War I.
Early life[edit]
Leete was born in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Franklin Leet and Louise Jones Leet. Her father (who spelled his name without a final E) was a farmer and a justice of the peace.[1]
Career[edit]
Before World War I, Leete was superintendent of nurses at the Babies' Dispensary and Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and a nationally recognized expert on infant care.[2][3]
Leete was a charter member of the National Committee on Red Cross Nursing Service.[4] In 1917, she was in the first hospital unit to sail from the United States for France, as a member of the Lakeside Base Hospital Unit of Cleveland. In Paris she worked with the Red Cross Children's Bureau.[5] She was chief nurse at the American Red Cross Hospital Number 5, at Auteuil. She went to work for the Balkan Commission, as Chief Nurse for northern Serbia,[6] based at Belgrade Hospital.[7] She contracted typhus at Palanka [8] and returned to the United States in July 1919.[9] The Serbian government awarded Leete the Order of St. Sava for her wartime efforts.[4]
After the war, she was field director of the American Child Hygiene Association,[10] which involved extensive travel and lecturing.[11] "This twentieth century does belong to the child," she wrote, "and unless we as nurses — not just public health nurses, but all nurses — meet this challenge... we shall be liable to the reproach of those who follow us."[12] From 1925 until her death, she was superintendent at a convalescent home in Far Rockaway, New York.[13]
Personal life[edit]
Leete died in 1927, aged 56 years, at a hospital on Long Island, from complications after an ear infection.[13]
References[edit]
- ^ William Richard Cutter, ed. Genealogical and Family History of Western New York (Lewis Historical Publishing 1912): 89.
- ^ "Leader in Baby Conservation" Washington Times (November 16, 1913): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Baby Scientists to Gather Here" Washington Herald (November 10, 1913): 2. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b "The Passing of Harriet L. Leete" American Journal of Nursing (January 1928): 71-72.
- ^ "Women in the War" Wilmington Morning Star (April 28, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Nursing Plans for the Balkans" Red Cross Bulletin (February 17, 1919): 26.
- ^ Clara D. Noyes, "The Red Cross" American Journal of Nursing (March 1919): 447.
- ^ It is known as Smederevska Palanka in modern Serbia.
- ^ American Red Cross National Nursing Service,History of American Red Cross Nursing (Macmillan 1922): 1118-1120.
- ^ "Baltimorean Makes Report; Miss Harriet L. Leete Gives Survey of Child Hygiene" Baltimore Sun (November 3, 1921): 2. via Newspapers.com
- ^ K. Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928 (Springer 2010): 168. ISBN 9780230107908
- ^ Arlene W. Keeling, "Nurses, Babies, and Public Health" in Arlene W. Keeling, John C. Kirchgessner, Michelle C. Hehman, eds., History of Professional Nursing in the United States: Toward a Culture of Health (Springer 2017): 216-217. ISBN 9780826133137
- ^ a b "Miss Harriet L. Leete" New York Times (November 21, 1927): 23.
