Bertha Harmer

Bertha Harmer (2 March 1885 – 14 December 1934) was a Canadian nurse, writer and educator. Harmer graduated from the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) in 1913.

The Port Hope, Ontario-born Harmer was acclaimed for her Text-Book of the Principles and Practice of Nursing (published by Macmillan Publishers). The book first appeared in April 1922 while Harmer was teaching at St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses in New York City. The 2nd edition appeared six years later. She was named Assistant Professor at Yale School of Nursing and as First Assistant Superintendent of Nurses at the New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.

She left these positions and moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she was named Director of the School for Graduate Nurses at McGill University. She remained until she was forced to retire due to poor health in 1934, the same year she died.

The third edition of her book was the last to appear under her name alone. It was published in July 1934, five months before Harmer's death. Christena Wallace (TGH/1922) who was Harmer's nurse around that time reportedly recalled Harmer editing the book and conferring with the publisher despite her very poor health. Harmer's book was so popular that the 4th and 5th editions, printed in 1939 and 1955, respectively, kept Harmer's name and added Virginia Henderson as a co-author/co-editor.

Bertha Harmer died on 14 December 1934, aged only 49. She was interred in her family's plot in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.