The Power of Failure

Mary Lewis Wyche: "Florence Nightingale" of North Carolina

Mary Lewis Wyche was born on February 26, 1858 near Henderson, North Carolina. She felt a strong call to go into the nursing profession but was thwarted by both family obligations and the absence of any nursing schools in the state. After years of first taking care of her many siblings, she finally graduated from the Philadelphia General Hospital Training School in 1894. Now 36, Mary returned home to pursue her dream in earnest. She took a good look around; the standards for nursing in North Carolina were "Anything, Everything, and Next to Nothing." There were no standards. Nurses had little training or respect and patient care suffered.

Mary became Chief Nursing Officer of the newly established Rex Hospital in Raleigh and wasted no time in creating the first school of nursing in North Carolina – Rex Hospital Training School for Nurses. She would establish nursing standards herself. Armed with the latest facts and guidelines from the International Council of Nurses, she resolved to form a statewide nursing organization dedicated to improving both the profession through nursing registration and patient care through legislative advocacy.

She would have to step beyond her own setting and into the less familiar world of policy and politics. Her success would depend on summoning up not only the power, the will, the time and the energy, but the political skills needed to "play the game" in the legislative arena. Her first attempt was in 1901. She sent post cards to the Raleigh nurses with this request:

"Please meet me at the office of Dr. A. W. Knox at four o'clock p.m. Wednesday, October 10, 1901."

No one showed up.

Surely, she thought, she had failed.

It would be easy to give up – after all, she was only a woman. And how could she influence the state government if women still couldn't vote in North Carolina? For that matter, how could she influence anyone? Just who did she think she was, anyhow?

She would show them – Mary Lewis Wyche was not a quitter. Two weeks later she sent out a second post card to the same nurses:

"There will be another important meeting of the Raleigh Nurses Association at 4 o'clock p.m. Wednesday, October 24, 1901."

The "Raleigh Nurses Association" existed only in her mind. This time, indifference was replaced by curiosity. The ruse worked. Every nurse heeded the second notice. Excitedly, Mary immediately confessed her ploy to them and presented her plans for this new organization. Much to her surprise, they all wanted to join!

In 1902, with the help of her fledgling Raleigh Nurses Association, Mary set out to organize a state nurses association. They sent questionnaires and invitations to every nurse in the state whose address they could learn. The response was favorable, so plans were made for these nurses to meet in Raleigh during State Fair Week when railroads offered special rates. Fourteen nurses came and the North Carolina State Nurses Association (NCNA) was formed.

Mary was not through – not by a long shot. She couldn't vote, but she could persuade. She mobilized support and pushed for the regulation of nursing practice in the North Carolina legislature. On March 3, 1903, the Nursing Practice Act was signed into law by Governor Charles Aycock, making North Carolina the first state in the union mandating registration for nurses. Mary's dream of providing safeguards for the public and the profession had at last come true. She had literally revolutionized the nursing profession in North Carolina.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." – Winston Churchill

Since 1975, the new NCNA headquarters has been located in Raleigh at 103 Enterprise Street. Recently (October 2-4), the 106th Annual NCNA Convention was held in Greensboro, NC.