Born in England, Nancy came to Canada in 1909. She graduated from the Hamilton City Hospital in 1909 and worked in Ottawa during a typhoid epidemic that year. She enlisted during WW I, serving in various locations for the Queen Alexandria Nursing Service.
After graduating from the Public Health program at UBC, Dunn became the first Public Health nurse in the Peace River country. Here she travelled by horseback in summer and cutter in winter to provide medical care. In 1934 she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing services. Later she worked in Fort Nelson and Telegraph Creek, where dog teams were often her mode of transportation.
Contents of Biographical File
- Gerald Clare, “Nancy Dunn, O.B.E., Pioneer in Peace River Public Health,” 2001.
- Excerpt from “A First-Hand Look at Public Health in the Peace, 1932”, by Nancy Dunn, originally published in the Public Health Nurse’s Bulletin.
- Mrs. C. Hind, Nancy Dunn, first Public Health Nurse in the District”. Includes poem by Jean Gething, “Our School Nurse—Miss Dunn”.
- B&w photocopied photograph