The last two months of the extensive 16-month long program required the nurses to use their newfound knowledge and skills in environments they were not accustomed to such as hospitals or private family homes.Īfter completing these requirements, Mahoney graduated in 1879 as a registered nurse alongside 3 other colleagues - the first black woman to do so in the United States.Īfter gaining her nursing diploma, Mahoney worked for many years as a private care nurse, earning a distinguished reputation. Three quarters of the program consisted of the nurses working within a surgical, maternity or medical ward with six patients they were responsible caring for. Many nurses did not see the weekly wages as significant as many of them were struggling financially and thus were giving back 25% of their wages for financial assistance to the hospital. The nursing program allowed for the students to earn a weekly wage, ranging from 1 to 4 dollars, after their first two weeks of work. In addition, Mahoney worked for several months as a private-duty nurse. Outside of the lectures, students were taught many important bedside procedures such as taking vital signs and bandaging. shift, requiring Mahoney to attend lectures and lessons to educate herself through instruction of doctors in the ward. The work within the program was intensive and consisted of long days with a 5:30 A.M. Mahoney's training required she spend at least one year in the hospital's various wards to gain universal nursing knowledge. Mahoney worked nearly 16 hours daily for the 15 years that she worked as a laborer. It is presumed that the administration accepted Mahoney, despite not meeting the age criteria, because of her connection to the hospital through prior work as a cook, maid, and washerwoman there when she was 18 years old. The criteria in which the hospital utilized while choosing students for their program emphasized that the 40 applicants would be 'well and strong, between the ages of 21 and 31, and have a good reputation as to character and disposition.' The NEHWC became the first institution to offer such a program allowing women to work towards entering the healthcare industry, which was predominantly led by men.

She was admitted into a 16-month program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children (now the Dimock Community Health Center) at the age of 33, alongside 39 other students in 1878. Mahoney knew early on that she wanted to become a nurse possibly due to seeing immediate emergence of nurses during the American Civil War. From then, Mahoney did not marry and remained single for the rest of her life. The engagement did not last long and left both parties emotionally damaged. Mahoney was briefly engaged to an unknown doctor some time during her life, although it is speculated to have happened around her early 20s. It is said this instruction influenced Mahoney's early interest in nursing.

Phillips School was known for teaching its students the value of morality and humanity, alongside general subjects such as English, History, Arithmetic, and more. Mahoney was admitted into the Phillips School at age 10, one of the first integrated schools in Boston, and stayed from first to fourth grade. At a young age, Mahoney was a loyal Baptist and churchgoer who frequently attended People's Baptist Church in Roxbury. Mahoney was the oldest of two children with one sibling dying early on as a child. Mahoney's parents were freed slaves, originally from North Carolina, who moved north before the Civil War in pursuit of a life with less racial discrimination. Mary Eliza Mahoney was born in 1845 in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

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