When Dr. William Estes established the St. Luke's School of Nursing in 1884, he modeled it after the nursing school at Bellevue Hospital in New York, N.Y. At Bellevue, he observed superior nursing service and generally superior patient treatment compared with other New York City hospitals. At the time, St. Luke's was the fourth hospital in the country to establish a school of nursing.

Today, St. Luke's School of Nursing is the oldest nursing school in the United States.

Nine students were accepted the first year of the program, with graduates including Minnie Agnes Ernst of Bethlehem and Minerva Anne Jordan of Riegelsville. During the school's early days, students were taught the general principles of nursing, how to observe and record symptoms, how to manage helpless patients and received instruction on how to bandage and make beds.

The reputation of the school flourished during the 1920s and 30s. During World War II, St. Luke's School of Nursing was approved for the Cadet Nurse Corps program. The explosion of technical knowledge that followed World War II offered nurses the opportunity to specialize in a particular area of nursing.

In 1962, the school was awarded full accreditation from the National League for Nursing and remains fully accredited to this day. In 1965, many of the diploma schools around the country closed, but St. Luke's enrollment remained healthy. College credits were added to the curriculum in 1969. In August 1972, St. Luke's School of Nursing admitted its first male students.

"The school has been partners with the Visiting Nurses Association since 1936, helping people with home healthcare. In 1956, we started offering scholarships so more local students could become nurses, and more than 30 years ago, St. Luke's was one of the first schools to admit male students," said Sandra Medics, director of St. Luke's School of Nursing. "Our commitment to our students is demonstrated by the 50 to 60 percent of our nursing school graduates who are hired annually at St. Luke's," she continued.

Throughout the last decades of the 20th century, St. Luke's remained flexible to the needs of the community, at different times offering an evening-weekend curriculum to help meet the shortage of nurses, and changing the curriculum to incorporate computer-assisted documentation and evidence-based practice, according to Carol Kuplen, chief nursing officer, St. Luke's University Health Network, and COO, St. Luke's University Hospital/Bethlehem.

"St. Luke's School of Nursing pioneered how nurses became an integral part of the medical community throughout the twentieth century," Kuplen said. "The school has helped to transform healthcare, and our graduates positively affect the lives of people every day."

Today, college credits in science and liberal arts are prerequisites to entering the nursing program. During the 20-month nursing curriculum, students receive 900 hours of clinical practice in a variety of health care settings. Students are provided every opportunity to grow and develop personally and professionally throughout their student nursing experience. Computer-assisted learning and state-of-the-art simulation technology is used to enhance nursing education. Today's St. Luke's School of Nursing graduates are educated to provide nursing care as part of an interdisciplinary health care team.

More than 4,000 nurses have graduated from St. Luke's School of Nursing, with current estimates of living alumni at 2,700.

"The Alumni Association of St. Luke's was organized in 1897 with the vision to unite St. Luke's School of Nursing students and graduates through dedication to the common goal of education in the healing arts profession," said Sandra Davidyock, RN, Class of 1969 and president of the St. Luke's School of Nursing Alumni Association.

"With a tradition steeped in history, St. Luke's alumni nurses can be found in hospitals, schools and the military and have been caring for people through conflicts beginning in World War II to present Iraq and Afghanistan," she said. The Alumni Association offers scholarships to students and supports the educational efforts of the school.

The Alumni Association held its 130th homecoming this past fall and honored 17 50th anniversary graduates attending the event. The homecoming celebration was special to Sandra Davidyock, as well, who is celebrating her 45th anniversary as a St. Luke's School of Nursing alumna.

Alumni attending the homecoming event included Susan Bechtel, Easton; Charlotte Blair, Bethlehem; Karen Brandis, Jim Thorpe; Ellie Darrohn, Allentown; Claire Fisher, Orlando, Fla.; Helen Hancock, Chevy Chase, Md.; Maarja Latshaw, Naples, Fla.; Sandra Mahoney, McCormick, S.C.; Bonnie Marshall, Berwyn, Pa.; Joann Marzola, Allentown; Diana McGonigle, Sunset, S.C.; Karen Pysher, Bethlehem; Suzanne Scindo, Stroudsburg; Judith Sopko, Bethlehem; Janice Stackhouse, Nazareth; Thelma Thompson, West Middlesex, Pa.; and Frances Walters, Cranbury, N.J.