October 7, 2005
Workshop to focus on history of medicine
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –Greater Lafayette community residents are invited to take a trip back in time during an event designed to educate about the history of nursing and the practice of medicine.
The Center for Nursing History, Ethics, Human Rights and Innovations in Purdue University's School of Nursing is partnering with Historic Prophetstown to present "The History of Healing," which will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 29 at Historic Prophetstown in Battle Ground.
Barbra M. Wall, assistant professor of nursing and director of the Center for Nursing History, Ethics, Human Rights and Innovations at Purdue, said the purpose of the inaugural event is to educate the public about how medical practices and beliefs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries can apply to our lives today.
"What people will see is that what goes around comes around," she said. "The kind of healing practices that made sense to people during that time also are used today. For example, a lot of people might think herbal and homeopathic treatments are new methods of treating illnesses, but our ancestors used poultices packed with herbs and vegetables placed on the chest to ease congestion.
"The interest in natural treatments we've seen in the past decade or so is very similar to the interest people had a century ago. So there are a lot of parallels we hope visitors will notice. At the same time, the late 19th and early 20th centuries comprised a key transitional period, when hospitals experienced significant growth and eventually transformed to expensive, modern hospitals of science and technology. We will be discussing these themes as well."
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to tour an early 20th-century farmhouse, with each room offering a different scene from how medicine and nursing were practiced 100 years ago.
For instance, visitors will see how the bedroom was set up to deliver babies before hospital births were common practice, and in the days before funeral homes, how the living room was the place where families would view a body.
There also will be a "remembrance table" for community members to document home remedies and practices they remember in their families.
"We think this workshop will be educational and a lot of fun for all ages," Wall said. "This is the School of Nursing's first partnership with Historic Prophetstown, but we would love to collaborate on more projects like this. The overarching purpose of this event is to increase engagement with the Greater Lafayette community at large, which is one of our strategic goals at Purdue."
In addition to a tour of the farmhouse, a full schedule of speakers is planned. Highlights include a lecture on the history of healing by Wall, a display of nursing artifacts presented by Cindy Bozich-Keith of the School of Nursing, a discussion of expressions of grief with Jane Kinyon from the School of Nursing and Donna Pridemore and Cindy Wilcox from Hippensteel Funeral Home, a discussion of the flu outbreak of 1918-19 with first-person accounts, a session about the use of herbs and a historical book display.
There also will be herbal breads and teas on hand to sample.
The workshop fee is $15, which includes a box lunch. To register, call Historic Prophetstown at (765) 567-4700. The deadline for registration is Oct. 21.
The Center for Nursing History, Ethics, Human Rights and Innovations was established at Purdue University in 2003, with major funding obtained in 2004. It promotes nursing scholarship by providing an archival repository for the preservation of the work of nursing scholars and a forum for interactive dialogue on historical, ethical and cultural issues important to 21st-century nursing and health care.
Historic Prophetstown is a nonprofit organization established in 1995 and is located within Prophetstown State Park. Historic Prophetstown's mission is to preserve and interpret the Native American, environmental and agricultural history, arts and traditions of the Wabash Valley region through educational experiences and cultural programs.
Writer: Kim Medaris, (765) 494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu
Sources: Barbra M. Wall, (765) 494-4023, wallb@purdue.edu
Cindy Bedell, education coordinator at Historic Prophetstown, (765) 567-4700, education@prophetstown.org
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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