On March 10, 1867, Lillian Wald was born into a middle-class German Jewish family in Cincinnati, Ohio. She resided with her family in Ohio until 1878, when she moved with her family to Rochester, New York for her father's career as an optical merchant. Her family enrolled her in a boarding school for girls called Miss Cruttenden's English-French School. Lillian Wald was ambitious from a young age as she applied to college at the age of 16. Vassar College, the school she applied to, deemed Lillian far too young for college and was denied entry. Six years later, at the age of 22, Lillian was accepted into the New York Hospital School of Nursing. Wald graduated from nursing school in 1891. She continued her education at Woman's Medical College. (National Women's History Museum, nd)Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay One of the places Wald worked during her nursing career was the New York Juvenile Asylum, now called Children's Village. The New York juvenile asylum was an orphanage and conditions were very poor. In 1893, Wald decided to leave medical school and begin teaching nursing classes at the Hebrew Technical School for Girls located on the Lower East Side of New York. Most of his students were poor families who had immigrated to the United States. Soon after, she became a visiting nurse caring for sick residents of New York's Lower East Side. Wald and Mary Brewster, another famous nurse, moved into a room near patients so they could care for them more effectively. Around this time, Wald coined the name "public health nurse" to refer to nurses who worked in the public community. (Jewish Women's Archive, n.d.) Wald was very influential in introducing nursing to public schools. Wald's ideas helped the New York Board of Health create the world's first public nursing foundation. She was the first president of the National Organization of Public Health Nursing. She founded a nursing insurance affiliation with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company which developed a model for many other business developments. Wald also helped found the Columbia University School of Nursing and recommended a national health insurance plan. (National Women's History Museum, nd) She authored two books, The House on Henry Street (1911) and Windows on Henry Street (1934), which describe her work in community health. Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement, a non-for-profit social service agency located in New York's Lower East Side, which provides social services, arts programs, and health care services. A prominent Jewish philanthropist, Jacob Schiff, was very impressed by Wald and his service agency which secretly provided him with funds to help disadvantaged Russian Jewish families. Wald employed 27 nurses by 1906 and attracted more financial support from other famous philanthropists, such as Elizabeth Milbank Anderson. (New York Times, 1916). In 1913, Wald had 92 people working for the Henry Street colony. Eventually, the Henry Street Settlement was established as the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. (Fee and Bu, 2010) Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Wald's Dream for the Henry Street Colony Was Unlike Any..