Loretta C. Ford ('' née'' Pfingstel; born December 28, 1920) is an American nurse and the co-founder of the first

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe ...

program. Along with pediatrician Henry Silver, Ford started the

pediatric nurse practitioner A pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) is a nurse practitioner who specializes in care for newborns, infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers, school-aged children, adolescents, and young adults. Nurse practitioners have an in-depth knowledge and experie ...

program at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in 1965. In 1972, Ford joined the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

as founding dean of the nursing school.

Early life

Loretta Ford was born December 28, 1920, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. When she was young, she wanted to be a teacher, but her family's financial situation led her to choose a less costly educational path. When Ford graduated from high school at 16, she was too young to enter a postgraduate training program, so she worked at Middlesex General Hospital (now

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital The Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is an American 965-bed hospital with campuses in New Brunswick (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick), and Somerville, New Jersey ( Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somer ...

) in New Brunswick, New Jersey as a nurses' aide. While working in the hospital, Ford lived and studied with nursing students, and she decided to pursue nursing as a career. After a year and a half as a nurses' aide, Ford entered the nursing program at Middlesex General and received her Diploma in Nursing in 1941.

Career

After graduation, Ford joined the Visiting Nurse Service (VNS) of New Brunswick. However, her tenure with VNS was short-lived. In 1942, following the death of her fiance in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Ford joined the

US Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. She had hoped to enter flight nurse training, but was denied due to her vision, and instead served at base hospitals in Florida and Maine. Through the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, Ford was then able to attend the

(CU), where she completed a B.S. in nursing with a

Public Health Nursing Public health nursing, also known as community health nursing is a nursing specialty focused on public health. The term was coined by Lillian Wald of the Henry Street Settlement, or, Public health nurses (PHNs) or community health nurses "integra ...

certificate (1949) and Master of Public Health Nursing Supervision (1951). At CU, Ford was mentored and impacted by several influential figures in nursing and public health including

Lucile Petry Leone Lucile Petry Leone (January 23, 1902 – November 25, 1999) was an American nurse who was the founding director of the Cadet Nurse Corps in 1943. Because the Nurse Corps met its recruiting quotas, it was not necessary for the US to draft nurses i ...

, Pearl Parvin Coulter, and Henrietta Loughran. During this time, Ford was also working as a public health nurse for Boulder County and eventually became the director of nursing at the Boulder City-County Health department. In 1961, Ford received her Doctorate in Education also from the University of Colorado. Her doctoral work was in the development of cases in public health nursing administration and was supported through a

National League for Nursing The National League for Nursing (NLN) is a national organization for faculty nurses and leaders in nurse education. It offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiative ...

fellowship. Prior to completion of her EdD, Ford was already an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Nursing in Denver, and then earned full professorship in 1965. It was during her tenure at CU that Ford co-developed the first nurse practitioner program. In 1971, she was elected to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Eng ...

. Ford became the founding dean of the nursing school at the University of Rochester in 1972. At the University of Rochester, Ford developed the unification model of nursing.

Founding of nurse practitioner programs

As a public health nurse for Boulder County, Ford worked in rural Colorado in the 1940s and 1950s. Through CU's public health nursing program, Ford became one of the first test field teachers, training students from the Denver Visiting Nurse Service in these communities. During this time, she noted a deficit of care in these communities, which she and other nurses filled with temporary health clinics. This experience confirmed for Ford that nurses could independently fill gaps in healthcare if offered specialized training. Ford was given the opportunity to begin developing the specialized training she envisioned through the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Nursing. With this organization, Ford was part of a team of educators who developed a specialized clinical curriculum for community health, a curriculum she brought to CU to further develop. In 1965, Ford joined with pediatrician Henry Silver to create the pediatric nurse practitioner program at the University of Colorado. This was the first nurse practitioner program in the United States. The program was introduced in a '' Pediatrics'' journal article in 1967 as, "a new educational and training program in pediatrics for professional nurses which has been developed to provide increased health care for children in both rural and urban areas." Early nurse practitioner programs faced opposition from established faculty at nursing schools. Due to the medical component of the curriculum, physicians were now involved in training nurses. Opponents were concerned this would lead to a supervisory relationship between nurse practitioners and physicians, instead of a cooperative relationship between independent colleagues. Critics felt this approach would allow medicine to usurp nursing. Additionally, there was a great deal of prejudice around the abilities of nurses that Ford worked to overcome in these first nurse practitioner programs.

Unification Model of Nursing

During her tenure as Dean at the University of Rochester, Ford developed a holistic approach to nursing education called the Unification Model of Nursing. The model is designed to include education, research, and clinical practice in the training of nurses.

Awards

In 1989, Ford received the Ruth B. Freeman Award in the Public Health Nursing Section from the American Public Health Association. In 1990, she received the Gustav O. Lienhard Award from the

. Ford was named a Living Legend by the

American Academy of Nursing The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) is a professional organization that generates, synthesizes, and disseminates nursing knowledge to contribute to health policy and practice for the benefit of the public and the nursing profession. Founded in ...

in 1999. In 2003, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from ''The Nurse Practitioner''. She was honored with the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Hobart and William Smith Colleges that same year; the award honors "a woman whose life exemplifies outstanding service to humanity." She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2012, she was inducted into the

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted. History There was a short-lived recogniti ...

. Ford holds honorary doctorates from six universities.

Personal life

As an undergraduate, Loretta married William Ford in 1947, and her daughter was born in 1952. Ford retired in 1985 and moved to Florida.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Loretta C. 1920 births Living people Military personnel from New York City American nursing administrators Members of the National Academy of Medicine University of Colorado alumni University of Colorado faculty University of Rochester faculty Nursing school deans Nursing educators Advanced practice registered nurses American academic administrators American centenarians Women centenarians United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Female United States Army personnel Female United States Air Force personnel 20th-century American women 21st-century American women