St. Francis School Of Nursing Statue

Since the earliest days of medicine, nurses have been there to treat the sick and offer support in the form of medical treatment, a kind word, a smile, or a comforting touch.
Between 1899 and 1997, the St, Francis Hospital School of Nursing graduated over 5,800 nurses. The nursing program closed in 1997 when a new program was established between the hospital and St. Joseph College.
All of those nurses are honored in a statue, named «The Spirit of Love, Loyalty and Learning». It was dedicated in 1997 to recognize the end of the old St, Francis Hospital Nursing program.
It’s a 5-​foot-​4 bronze statue of a nurse in the main rotunda of the hospital, just to the right of the gift shop entrance. The nurse is holding a book entitled “So Falls the Elm Tree” written by a Jesuit priest named Rev. John Louis Bond. It’s an appropriate book because it’s a history of the hospital’s founding by French nuns in 1897.
The hospital’s nursing school has quite the glorious history –5,800 graduates, 200 nurses that served in World War II, and many that served in Vietnam.
It’s a very cool statue– it almost looks like the nurse is stepping forward to offer her assistance to the thousands of visitors that walk into the hospital.