Refresher Training Program, 1967-1970

Correspondence, records of refresher courses offered, quarterly and annual reports, surveys, and office files document the development and activities of the national refresher training effort in Georgia (Refresher Training Program, PH 108-67-234/NIH 70-483). In 1967 Georgia was awarded a government contract to reactivate nurses who were registered in the state but were not working, as part of a nationwide attempt to alleviate the chronic nurse shortage by encouraging nurses who had retired or resigned their positions to re-enter the workforce. Mary Cates, RN was hired to administer the program under the supervision of the GNA executive board and the US Public Health Service. The contract was renewed in 1968 and again in 1969, coming to an end in 1970. Although Mary Cates worked extensively with the GNA, she maintained a separate office; the files of the nurse refresher program are therefore complete and are arranged in the organizational scheme she devised. The series has three subseries: the first subseries comprises office files, including files on other states' refresher programs; subseries two and three are two separate surveys of Georgia nurses.