[APG Public List] Nursing homes

[LBoswell]

In the UK and Ireland, the term 'nursing home' is often used to mean 
'maternity home' or 'birth home'.  Not sure if that was the case in Canada 
or the US.   So and so 'born in nursing home'.

What I'm wondering is what is the origin of the phrase 'nursing home'?  Was 
it orginally used in the sense of a maternity/birth home as was commonly the 
case in the UK/Ireland?  Interesting, because you could take the term 
'nursing' two different directions.  Nursing someone  through illness or  in 
the final stages of old age.  Or nursing as in caring for, nourishing an 
infant.

Or did the phrase 'nursing home' evolve from different roots in the UK then 
it did here?  Were maternity homes, homes for unwed mothers ever called 
'nursing homes' in the US/CDA?    Should be noted that the UK 'nursing 
homes' aren't specifically for unwed mothers, probably most women going to 
them would have been married.

(just had a few "born in a nursing home" mentions, so got to thinking about 
the origin of the phrase)

Larry 
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