Browne, Helen Edith (1911–1987)
Browne, Helen Edith (1911–1987)
English nurse-midwife. Born Helen Edith Browne, Feb 3, 1911, in Bury St. Edmonds, England; died Jan 20, 1987, in Milford, Pennsylvania; dau. of Phil and Agnes (Rice-Capon) Browne; attended St. Bartholomew's Hospital School of Nursing in London, 1931–34, and British Hospital for Mothers and Babies in London, 1934–35; never married; no children.
Celebrated educator, nurse-midwife, and administrator, practiced privately as nursemidwife (1935–38) and as midwifery supervisor for British Hospital for Mothers and Babies (1937); arrived in Leslie Co., Kentucky (July 1938), to work for Mary Breckinridge's Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) as district midwife at Red Bird-Flat Creek Clinic; joined Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery (FNS' training school) as faculty member (1940); was supervisor of FNS' Hyden Hospital, then assistant director (1947), then director (1965) after Mary Breckinridge's death; raised funds for creation of Mary Breckinridge Hospital. Named Officer of the British Empire (1964) and Commander of the British Empire (1976).