Dorothea Dix Impact On Society

The Life and Impact of Dorothea Dix:
A 19th Century Revolutionary

By
Chandrawatie Khemraj

Introduction
In 2009, the staff writers of Nurseblogger, an Online resource for nurses, doctors, and medical enthusiasts, published a list titled the, “25 Most Famous Nurses in History”. Number 20 on their list was a woman by the name of Dorothea Dix. On a list featuring big nursing names like Florence Nightingale and Mary Mahoney, Dorothea Dix is a strange choice for a landmark woman of nursing considering she had little formal training in the science of nursing. But her interest in the psychological well-being of mental patients, impact on the practice of nursing and the American medical care system through social
Her father was a traveling Methodist preacher who circuited the Maine frontier. Dix’s home life was turbulent. Her mother showed symptoms of mental illness and her father was a notable alcoholic. The situation grew worse when the couple birthed two sons, Joseph and Charles Dix after moving to Worcester, Massachusetts. With two parents incapable of rearing for their own children, the role of caring for her brothers fell squarely on young Dix’s shoulders (Bumb, n.d.).
When she was 12 years old, Dix was forced to leave her parents household and made to stay in Boston with her grandmother. Being a wealthy, societal woman Madame Dix was disappointed with her granddaughter’s propensity for charity for the less fortunate and sent Dix to live with her aunty in Worcester. Inspired to become more “lady like” so that she could return home to her brothers, Dix did her best to comply with her aunty and grandmother’s wishes (Bumb,
Dorothea Dix recruited her powerful leadership skills in the aid of the Union forces after the April, 1861 attack on Fort Sumter (United States History, n.d.). She used her well-developed research and orator skills to convince military leaders develop a female nursing program to aid wounded soldiers. It was an unheard of concept in the late 19th century and was met with opposition at first. But Dorothea Dix recruited and organized some 3,000 women into an efficient corps that provided important medical care to soldiers on the battlefield (United States History, n.d.). She was named Superintendent of Female Nurses and lived up to her title. She was resourceful and tough. When necessary supplies were not forthcoming, Dix drew them from private sources. She was honorably dubbed “Dragon Dix” by her military commanders and helped forge a new opportunities for women not only in the military and nursing, but as potential equals in all American society to their male counterparts (Dix, Dorothea (1802 - 1887),