Above: A WPA nurse ices down the head of a patient suffering from a high fever, in New Orleans, ca. 1935-1943. The WPA nursing program helped millions of Americans. For example, between 1935 and 1941, WPA nurses in Passaic County, New Jersey "weighed and measured 12,732 children, assisted at 47,719 treatments, assisted physicians in making 7,697 physical examinations, conducted classroom examinations of 73,659 children, and made 4,000 home visits" ("What the WPA has done in this county in six years," The News (Paterson, New Jersey), December 20, 1941, p. 3). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
