we've come a long way

 

 

Yesterday—February 3—was National Women Physicians Day. Who knew there was such a thing? This is proof we’ve come a long way since I decided medicine would be my path in life…since the days when women in medicine were regarded with suspicion, disdain, and even mockery.

 

“If society will not admit

of woman’s free development,

then society must be remodeled.”

~Elizabeth Blackwell~

My journey into the practice of medicine started with my hospitalization for rheumatic fever when I was just three years old. Even at that young age, the experience shaped my sense of self. I never lost my appreciation for the suffering illness creates in a person’s life. I learned to harness the power to heal, and to revere the people who made it possible.

When I was in high school, I volunteered at one of the largest and poorest hospitals in Buffalo, NY. I majored in medical technology in college. I applied to medical school when there was still a 10% quota on women who were admitted—just ten in of a class of one hundred. Today, more women than men go on to study medicine.

“Every woman who heals herself

helps heal all the women

who came before her, and all those

who will come after."

~Dr. Christine Northrup~

I hope that more than just the numbers have changed.

I hope that young women who pursue the study of medicine are openly welcomed into the medical community, mentored, and encouraged to stay with it. I hope they are able to maintain high standards of medical ethics, selflessness, and dedication to patient care. That their male colleagues do not confront them with the disdain, disparagement, and arrogance that sometimes greeted us. That their female colleagues—nurses, therapists, aides, and support staff—feel connected with them in the art and science of patient care.

“The trained nurse has become

one of the great blessings of humanity,

taking a place beside

the physician and the priest.”

~Sir William Osler~

I hope they feel supported by their spouses, children, and friends. That exhaustion doesn’t do them in. That they practice balance in their lives. I wish them enough time and energy to embrace their creative nature, to enjoy their leisure, and to seek spiritual sustenance.

Because...

“Wherever the art of medicine is loved,

There is also a love of humanity.”

~Hippocrates~

jan