Do you know enough about your family’s history to write its story? Napans Anna Gentile and Nancy Gilien do — and will receive an award and cash prize for their efforts.

The pair’s mother, Celeste Campbell, worked for the American Red Cross during World War I as a nurse, one of the few socially acceptable jobs for women at that time. “But our mom was so independent. At 16, she got into nursing school, finishing at 19. She was also called into hospitals for surgeries. ... She loved it and had a wonderful time. (Around 1920), she made $120 per month at a time when women teachers got $50 a month,” Gentile said.

Identical twins, Gentile and Gilien, 81, will receive the Lucille Westbrook Award and $500 from the Arkansas Historical Association on April 27 for co-authoring their research paper. The women’s paper, titled “The Introduction of Public Health Nursing to Pope County, Arkansas,” chronicles their mother’s participation in the public health movement throughout the early 20th century.

‘Wonderful movement’

In 1912, Gilien said, the American Red Cross established a town and country nursing service, a predecessor of modern public health organizations.

A surgical, hospital and home care nurse, Campbell received public health nurse training in 1919. “Mom got either a loan or a scholarship for that. The Red Cross sent her to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland for training,” Gentile said, adding that her mother went to Pope County, Ark., afterward to head the Red Cross chapter there and begin her career as a public health nurse.

“In the 1920s ... communicable diseases were the main problem,” Gilien said. Her mother assisted tuberculosis patients, new mothers and others, stressing the importance of hand-washing and cleanliness. Campbell also helped doctors give immunizations to patients and taught a class called “Home Care of the Sick” to other women, who brought the knowledge to their own communities.

“Local people and communities sponsored the movement and many counties sponsored nurses. By 1925 or 1926, over 12 counties in the U.S. supported public health nursing. ... Then mortality started dropping, and counties and states hired their own public health service (workers). It was a wonderful social movement. ... Our mother was only an example of this movement,” Gilien said.

The sisters said their mother visited tuberculosis patients’ homes at a time when sunshine, fresh air, isolation and basic hygiene were among the few recommendations for controlling the disease. Campbell instructed patients’ family members about how to safely handle contaminated eating utensils and taught patients the importance of covering their mouths while coughing. As a precautionary measure against picking up the disease, Gilien said, Campbell set her purse down on top of newspapers at tuberculosis patients’ homes.

After getting married, Campbell continued her work with the American Red Cross. “Then World War II came when they lived in Little Rock. She went back to work for about three years,” said Gentile.

Gilien said she began genealogy research about 10 years ago. Using Pope County newspapers such as the Russellville Courier and the Atkins Chronicle, along with their mother’s letters and information from the American Red Cross, the pair crafted their award-winning paper.

In mama’s footsteps

While growing up in Arkansas, Gentile and Gilien admired their mother for her work in public nursing but said they had no idea they’d be carrying on her legacy. However, both women became nurses after attending nursing school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. The sisters enjoyed successful nursing careers and Gentile later volunteered for Napa/Solano Sexual Assault Response Team; she was the organization’s first sexual assault nurse examiner from 1991 to 1994 and served on its board of directors until 2005. Gentile also volunteered at Clinic Ole as a pediatric nurse from 1987 to 1989. Gilien volunteered at the North Bay Regional Center from 1973 to 1989, facilitating respite care and assessing patient care.

Lisa Lewis-Javar, program coordinator and a nurse examiner for Napa/Solano SART, said Gentile was the founding mother of the organization. “She was my pediatric instructor and my favorite ... because she really wanted nurses to succeed. Anna is a very loving and dedicated person and it was great when I got interested in forensic nursing and found out she was on the board.”

David Katayama, a manager at North Bay Regional Center, said Gilien’s knowledge spanned several nursing disciplines. “She knew the array of nursing issues that might surface with persons with developmental disabilities and how they impacted the family unit. She had a holistic, family-centered perspective on health care ... and was professional, reliable and knowledgeable. One of the things that I remember ... is she held her own with physicians. She represented her profession extremely well and confidently and did this with such compassion, respecting all disciplines.”

Gilien and Gentile are now volunteers at Copia and at the Napa Valley Genealogical and Biographical Society; Gentile is the organization’s publicity chairwoman and Gilien is program chairwoman.