Elinor D. Gregg

Elinor D. Gregg (May 31, 1886 – March 31, 1970), also known as, Elinor Delight Gregg, Nurse Cross Red, was an American public nurse. She was one of the pioneers of industrial nursing. She established the public health nursing division in the American Bureau of Indian Affairs. She played an important role in taking public health nursing to the Native Americans.

Early life and education Elinor D. Gregg was born in 1886 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was one of the seven children of Rev. James Bartlett Gregg and Mary Needham Gregg. She completed her formal education in the Colorado Springs public schools. She attended grammar school, Cutler Academy, and Colorado College. In 1906, she continued her nursing education at the Waltham Training School for Nurses, Massachusetts. She primarily focused in the areas of school nursing, infant and child welfare, controlling tuberculosis, treating trachoma, and sanitation.

Based on her performance, she was promoted as Supervisor of Field Matrons and Nurses in August 1924. She moved to Washington, D.C. where she reorganized the hospital nursing service, and established the public health nursing division in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which became the forerunner of the nursing program in the Indians Health Services (IHS). Between 1924 and 1928, she interviewed several candidates for field nursing jobs on reservations.

She resigned on 16 November 1938.