KEEP 'EM FIGHTING

Year Published: 1942

Creator: the-henry-street-visiting-nurse-service

Complete Record: Duration: ~2:00+ | Format: Black & white, sound A WWII-era promotional/fundraising film produced by the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). The bold title card reads: "The Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service Presents: Keep 'Em Fighting." The film opens dramatically with footage of a bombed-out building — collapsed walls and rubble with a lone figure standing amidst the destruction — evoking the Blitz or wartime devastation to emphasize the need for home nursing. It then pivots to the nurses themselves: three smiling visiting nurses in their uniforms and hats are seen leaving a building with their medical bags. Subsequent scenes show the nurses at work in domestic settings — a nurse examining a seated elderly woman at home, and another nurse caring for a young child at a window. With 301 views, the film is a compelling document of American home healthcare on the WWII home front, showing how visiting nurses kept vulnerable civilians healthy so the country could sustain the war effort.