Lillian Wald

Lillian Wald
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Lillian Wald
Question 1
Wald was born with an interest in the medical filed, and that explains her interest in studying nursing at the medical school within her local area. She was born and raised in Ohio, and that is where she started her nursing career. She started this, and for to increase her knowledge and pass it to the others, she began to teach the community on health awareness through the health classes that she held. Her intention was to reach each person in the society and ensure that people were no longer in ignorance on issues about health (Christopher et al., 2016). This was the foundation of her other moves and actions through the medical field as she became more involved in the nursing activities. She worked at a children’s asylum and an orphanage for children who came from humble backgrounds and later started teaching a home class from the poor immigrant families. Her dedication to her patients was evident in her move to live near them so as to give them undivided attention. Her nursing career later blossomed when she started the Henry Street Settlement and had external funding to help the organization take care of the poor people in the society who could not afford better medical care.
Question 2
Wald started out her career in politics after the foundation of the Henry Street Settlement program which attracted the attention of the influential people in the society after they started funding her actions and thoughts in helping the poor.

She got more publicized as people saw her as a heroine through her actions and that she was a leader in her activities. She later became a human right activist where she advocated that all people should be treated in the same manner irrespective of their race (Feld, 2012). She was also in the forefront to fight for the women’s rights and ensure that they got better chances in politics and equal representation like the men. To some point, she was not really in politics, but her involvement in the community welfare prompted her to enter albeit indirectly. It was not a lifelong dream to Wald as it came by the virtue that she was in a public position which made her make decisions on behalf of other people. It was, therefore, unexpected, but she played the political role in the right manner.
Question 3
Wald did not have any political background before becoming politically active. She was in touch with the community through other activities but did not consider herself a political figure. She had interacted with others and more so the poor in the society and knew the social needs and misrepresentation that they go through hence the interest in politics later. Her interaction with people in leadership positions was the driving force towards her interest in politics as he felt she was in a better position to represent others. She was an influential person that had touched many people in the society hence the quick career move politically.
Question 4
There were many triumphs that Wald faced within her career and her actions towards reaching out to the people. The most notable triumph was the establishment of the Henry institution which took care of the poor in the society and gave them hope to life. She was also part of the team that increased her humanitarian activities after taking a world tour. She was unselfish in her actions and put the happiness of others before her needs (Christopher et al., 2016). Her thoughts towards the women and children and advocated that they should get education and access medical care as they were the main backbone of the society. She was also a rights activist and viewed all people as equals hence the idea of having all races attend her foundation.
Her main challenges included lack of funds that would help her execute her duties and responsibilities. Others were the negative perception that people have towards the women leadership and activities that women take in the society. She also did not have a strong team that would support her idea which was a setback (Feld, 2012).
Reflection
I think that becoming politically active is a nice move, but that does not mean that it is right for each person. It is appealing to the eyes, but one should take calculated moves before making such a decision. However, in this case, Lillian taking the move into politics steered her away from the common goal that she had at the beginning which was nursing. It interfered with her calling in taking care of the people and to some point, messed her goals and priorities in life as an individual. Her involvement with the politics further made her leave the humanitarian actions that she was more focused on previously. It is easy to say that the political move further divided her attention from her core business which was taking care of humanity through nursing and care actions.
References
Christopher, M. A., Hawkey, R., & Jared, M. C. (2016). Lillian D. Wald: Pioneer of Public Health. Nursing’s Greatest Leaders: A History of Activism, 195.
Feld, M. N. (2012). Lillian Wald: a biography. UNC Press Books.