Kathleen Bragg Of Ocracoke: Pioneer Outer Banks Nurses

The Outer Banks are a 175-mile chain of remote and windswept barrier islands that skirt the coast of North Carolina; Ocracoke Island is one of the most isolated. Before the 1950s, there were no paved roads, electricity, water, or sewer systems on the island. Most Outer Bankers lived a subsistence lifestyle that combined fishing, salvaging shipwrecks, piloting vessels through the inlets, farming, and hunting. Ocracoke Village was home to a Coast Guard Station, clam processing plant, and working port. Until the 1980s, except for the small hospital the Navy maintained during WWII, there were no health care facilities or physicians on the island. It was up to Nurse Kathleen Bragg to provide care to Ocracoke residents.