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Frontier Nursing University has moved the iconic stained-glass window from Mary Breckinridge's chapel at the Hyden campus to their new location in Versailles.
This is extraction in its most blatant form.
A thread... https://twitter.com/WYMT/status/1296254372926697472
This is extraction in its most blatant form.
A thread... https://twitter.com/WYMT/status/1296254372926697472
Hyden & Leslie County are more proud of the history of the FNS & Mary Breckinridge than maybe anything else. There are statues dedicated to Mrs. Breckinridge and the FNS. There's an annual festival in her honor. Entire families recall being birthed by FNS midwives.
When I saw this pride of place and history runs deep, I mean, *it runs DEEP*.
I, myself, along with my brother and five of my cousins, were born at Mary Breckinridge Hospital, birthed by FNS midwives. My connection to that place and those midwives and that history is intrinsic.
Breckinridge brought midwifery to the United States, and she stated it all in Hyden. She saw a need in EKY for quality healthcare, particularly women's healthcare, and most especially in labor and delivery. Women were dying in childbirth at high rates; she was there to fix that.
And so, she did. She and her midwives traveled all over EKY on horseback, delivery babies and caring for expectant and new mothers. While they complete wellness checks on mothers, they provided care to others in the home: husbands and children, elders.
Ever seen "Call the Midwife" on PBS? That's the midwifery Breckinridge learned and brought to the hills. That's the nurse-midwifery she taught and practices for generations in the mountains.
She wasn't just some nascent figure, either, delivery babies, then retreating back out of the community. She was a *part* of the community. She built her home and her school in Hyden, Kentucky, right where it all began. And she lived her life there, intwined in this place.
And yes, she built her chapel, there, too.
The chapel was built in the early 60s, but the historic stained-glass window dates much earlier. She had it installed there because she loved it so much, and wanted it there as a symbol of the faith that guided her mission to serve those who needed care the absolute most.
Fast-forward to now, several years after the board of directors of Frontier Nursing University decided they'd rather have their headquarters in Versailles, in one of the richest counties in the state, just 30 minutes outside KY's second-largest city.
They said being in Versailles, close to an airport, and a large population center, would allow them to train more nurse-midwives than ever before, and continue the mission of Mary Breckinridge in ways only previously imagined.
I mean, fine, I guess, if that's really the reason. Train more midwives (most of whom do not live or work in EKY), do the good work, have access to resources. But there are several issues with this.
Leslie County has lost tons of coal severance dollars because of coal's collapse, and have struggled to provide vital services, like EMT, fire, water and road work. A loss of any kind of tax revenue means they have to decide which services they'll provide, & which they can't.
FNU took a significant tax revenue source from them when they moved operations to one of the wealthiest counties in the state. That's revenue Leslie County and Hyden could have used for schools and healthcare services. But it's money FNU extracted from them.
They also took a significant piece of Hyden's history - their pride and joy - when they relocated. And now, they have physically taken a physical piece of that history away from Hyden and Leslie County: The beloved stained-glass window. And they took it under cover of night!
The only reason someone steals something at night without telling anyone is because they know it's wrong.
They took that window so they can profit off of a history and a legacy that they have very little claim to when compared to the community of Hyden and Leslie County, Kentucky. The true birthplace of American midwifery.
They could have invested all the money they've used to build their new campus into Hyden, a community in desperate need of economic revitalization, in a county that might need to consolidate and dissolve in order to provide for its citizens.
But instead, they took it all away, and they are giving it to a place where there are horses worth more than Leslie County's entire county budget.
The actions of FNU are unconscionable. They continue the long legacy of resource and wealth extraction that has led to the dire economic straights EKY now faces: Poverty, poor health outcomes, low educational attainment, poisoned water, air and land, lack of generational wealth.
Mary Breckinridge would be appalled and ashamed of what they have done and will continue to do. They sully her legacy and her commitment to service and women's healthcare by their actions.
For FNU to claim their mission is still about serving the underserved while they actively practice resource, wealth and historical extraction from the underserved community where their work started *when they didn't even have to* is the epitome of false credibility.
FOR SHAME.
Moral of the story: You come for the 606, WE WILL NOT REST.
