Blanchfield Army Community Hospital
Fort Campbell, KY – Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) staff paused momentarily to mark the 120th birthday of the Army Nurse Corps, February 2nd, 2021.
“This year we decided to create a living museum featuring memorabilia from nurses who are currently serving and from retired nurses in our community,” said Col. Amanda Forristal, BACH’s deputy commander for nursing. “Current Army Nurse Corps officers reached out to retired nurse corps officers in the area and learned their stories, which are displayed here, for our team to reflect and reminisce on what we have done in the Army Nurse Corps.”
One such retiree is Col. Debbie Winters who joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1976, and completed her career in the Army Reserve.
She served in field hospitals and traditional hospitals like BACH, attended the Army War College, and was assigned to a forward-deployed unit in England during the first Gulf War.
“It was a blessing and I am so proud to have served my country in this way,” said Winters, reflecting on her years of service which began more than 45 years ago. Winters joined BACH’s newest Army Nurse Corps officer, 1st Lt. Kathryn Fullman in the traditional cake cutting which represents the passing of knowledge and experience from the Army’s most seasoned Soldiers to those who are much younger and represent the future.
Army Nurse Corps specialties include critical care nurse, perioperative nursing, anesthesia, community health, obstetrics/gynecology, behavioral health, and advanced practice nursing roles like nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives, and nurse anesthetists.
More than 6,500 men and women serve in the Army Nurse Corps.
These dedicated Soldiers provide high-tech, quality health care for military personnel, military retirees, and family members.
They can be found both downrange supporting operations for deployed forces or in more traditional clinical nursing environments serving at military hospitals and clinics in the U.S. and overseas.
Over the past year, Army nurses have served an important role in the nation’s COVID-19 Coronavirus response. In addition to caring for military healthcare beneficiaries at military treatment facilities during the pandemic, they have been sent to hard-hit communities across the nation in support of the Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force, which provides medical staff to assist federal and state agencies within local civilian hospitals. Army nurses assigned to duty at BACH have been sent to hospitals in Wisconsin and New York City.
BACH is named for Army nurse Col. Florence E. Blanchfield, who began her nursing career in 1906. She joined the Army in 1917, serving overseas during World War I. Like nurses today, she also served through a public health crisis, the 1918 Influenza Pandemic which sickened an estimated 500 million people.
Blanchfield rose through the ranks during her 30 years of service, becoming the chief of the Army Nurse Corps, leading an estimated 50,000 Army nurses serving on all fronts during World War II.
To learn more about career opportunities in the Army Nurse Corps visit www.goarmy.com/amedd/nurse.html
