Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, situated on the Ganado Mission within the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, was the first and only accredited nursing program for Native American women in the United States. The Presbyterian founders of Ganado Mission saw their work as threefold: evangelism, education and medical care would transform the lives of the Navajo. In accordance with these goals, the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions approved the construction of a twelve-bed hospital at Ganado in 1911 and in 1930, Dr. Clarence Salsbury, a Presbyterian missionary and physician associated with the hospital, founded Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. Although many whites believed that the Navajo lacked the ability to become nurses, Salsbury believed that young Navajo women could become nurses who would be "of service to their people." Strong ties between Presbyterian missions and churches across both the United States and the world ensured the rapid growth of the school. Formally accredited by the State of Arizona in 1932, the school eventually attracted not only Native American women but also women from other minority groups. As the first and only nursing school for Native Americans, Sage Memorial Hospital School of Nursing was a landmark institution in changing white attitudes about the abilities of Native American people.

Information provided by the National Registry of Historic Places, a program of the National Park Service