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The Hall of Fame Inductees: Sara Elizabeth Parsons Sara E. Parsons is remembered as a vigorous opponent of the exploitation of student nurses and as a crusader for improvement in the care of mental illness.


During the Spanish-American War, Parsons volunteered for service on the "Bay State," a hospital ship used to evacuate sick and wounded military personnel from Cuba and Puerto Rico. After an eight-month trip abroad to recover from typhoid fever, she was employed as superintendent of nurses at Adams Nervine Hospital in Massachusetts, a position she held for three years. At this time, Parsons completed a one-year certificate course in hospital economics at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a six-month course in hospital administration at Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1910 to 1920, she occupied the position of superintendent of Massachusetts General, but took a two-year leave in 1917 to serve as chief nurse of Base Hospital #6 in France.