Margaret Mary Maloney O'Brien
Margaret Mary Maloney, RN
Margaret Mary Maloney graduated in 1935 from St. Bernard's School of Nursing, one of the 6 Chicago Catholic hospital schools of nursing affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. During an oral history interview with Dr. Karen Egenes in 1994, she spoke of Loyola professors coming to her West Side hospital school to teach nursing students in her class. When asked about Sr. Helen Jarrell, RHSJ, she stated that "Sister Helen Jarrell was the Director of St. Bernard's. She was as strict as any sergeant in the Army. But she was also very supportive of higher education for nurses. Sr. Jarrell influenced me and other student nurses to continue our university education."
After graduation Maloney was first employed in Billings Hospital and later as a public health nurse by the Chicago Board of Health. When World War II broke out, nurses quickly joined the war effort. Maloney recalled that many nurses volunteered "...because at the time there was talk of possible conscripting nurses for service, in which case they would have to go in as enlisted personnel. So five of us left the Chicago Board of Health and joined the Army Nurse Corps at the same time to ensure officer status."
She further recalled that "...there were three units that went over to Europe at the same time. These were the 139, 140, and 141 Medical Units as well as the Army Air Corps. There were almost 10,000 of us on a ship and almost everyone was sick on their way to the European theater. We had to stop in the Azores to clean the ship before we could proceed!"
Upon reaching Europe, Maloney's unit "...went first to England to visit hospitals there to see how military hospitals operated. Then we were sent to an old contagious disease hospital in Chalone St. Marie in France to set up our military hospital. The French hospital apparently did not use good health procedures because they had everybody together, patients with tuberculosis, patients with pneumonia and patients with other communicable diseases all together. So they had to transfer those patients out to other hospitals, French hospitals, before we could clean up the place and move in. I remember we were in tents for a long time before we could get into the hospital building."
Maloney served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) throughout the war. She was promoted to Assistant Chief Nurse at the 239th General Hospital in Solange, France. At the end of the war she moved back to the Chicago area. Following the advice given by Sr. Jarrell, who was now Dean of the Loyola School of Nursing, Maloney enrolled in the Public Health Nursing degree program using the GI Bill. She graduated in 1950.
Margaret Mary Maloney O'Brien went on to be a pioneer in public health nursing in Chicago. She was one of the first group of highly educated public health nurses to be hired by the Chicago Board of Education to serve in the Chicago Public Schools as school nurses. These nurses were required to have the same degree credentials and pass the written and oral exam required of teachers. They received the same professional status and benefits as teachers. This was important at the time when most nurses were diploma prepared and not university educated. The struggle to set national standards to require school nurses to have university degrees continues to this day.
Nurse Maloney O'Brien later moved to Laguna Hills, California, where she retired after her husband passed away. During her 1994 oral history interview with Dr. Karen Egenes, Malone expressed great pride in her military service, Loyola Public Health Nursing education, and her work with the Chicago Public Schools as one of the pioneering school nurses.
Story by Dr. Diana Hackbarth