The Frontier Nursing Service is a family centered healthcare system complimented by a long standing commitment to education focused on advanced nursing practices. It has offered family oriented healthcare to rural and underserved populations for more than eighty years and educational opportunities for over 65 years. It has behind it the tradition of “The Nurses on Horseback”. This is our history, our heritage, but this alone does not characterize why the Frontier Nursing Service is “unique” today.
The FNS combines education and service through a hospital, home health agency, rural healthcare clinics and a school of nurse midwifery and family nursing. This is a collaborative effort of nursing and medicine supported by thousands of friends across the country that provides financial assistance to fulfill our mission.
The FNS demonstrated the effectiveness of the nurse in an expanded role well before the concept was recognized widely in this country. While the organization remains proud of its traditions the service is also a window into the future of healthcare in the United States.
The FNS has always been credited with the ability to stay ahead of its time. Therefore, our practice and educational models seldom fit any preconceived idea or set structure for typical healthcare or educational organizations. Today, portions of its programs and services have become a model in the United States and in countries around the globe.
In its eighty years, the FNS has faced problems as diverse as its program – war, fire, flood, financial crisis, good times and bad and will undoubtedly continue to be confronted with similar problems in the years ahead. We have had our share of successes and failures. However, looking back to our original vision, we can still share in the enthusiasm expressed by our Founder, Mary Breckinridge, the nurse midwife who started it all and concluded “The glorious thing about it is that it has worked!”
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