Nurses needed: Public health nursing in Maine

Maine’s first public health nurse (PHN) was Edith Soule. She is second from the right in the picture above. In 1920, Edith was named director of the newly created Division of Public Health Nursing and Child Hygiene. Two years later she asked Governor Percival Baxter for funding to hire more nurses who could travel throughout the state. In 1923, a second nurse was hired.