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Show 220 Soon after her arrival home, she set up her nursing school which was to continue for years and turn out about 500 well-qualified nurse/midwives in a market greatly needing their services. The Woman's Exponent of September 1, 1878 said that Ellis's school had "the object of qualifying women for the important offices of nurse and accoucheur." Ellis had organized a course of study which was to take six months to complete. She was thus able to teach two sessions each year. Her fee was modest, and she invited women from the entire 2 region to attend. During the first four years of the school's operation, Ellis gave over 1,000 lectures. Enrolled in her course were students from communities throughout Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. The need for mid-wives was great enough that Relief Societi.es provided free promotion along with some scholarships. The climate in which Ellis functioned was so favorable that even railroad officials cooperated by letting the ladies ride half fare. Some came with babies, and Ellis not infrequently would hold a fussy one so that its mother could take notes on the lecture she was giving. "By 1893 one hundred graduates had been certified for obstetrical work by a committee of examining physicians. The Utah State Board of Registration licensed a total of 467 midwives between 1893 and 1906 alone, leaving no doubt as to ,.3 the thriving demand for their services." Of her early years as a medical doctor, Ellis much later said: After my graduation I remained in our original home at 34 South Seventh East Street for a number of years, seeking |