Rocky Road for Doctors

Rocky Road for Doctors

Elizabeth Blackwell in Geneva College from 1847 to 1849, suffered isolation and loneliness from the students, ostracism by town people.  But she survived with dignity and gentleness, and won over students and later resident physicians.

       But that pales by the behavior of four resident physicians in 1902 in their concerted attempts to make Dr. Emily Dunning give up her hard-earned residency at Gouverneur Hospital, part of the immense Bellevue Hospital.  Even before she started on January 1, 1903, rumors circulated that all the doctors of the hospital petitioned the city government to deny her appointment.  After all, in rotation policy, if she stayed until 1904 she would be responsible for the schedules of the other 4 males.  That must not occur.  On the first night, after dinner, she was ordered to catherize the male patients who needed it.   During the first 6 months her assignments included working with patients in the dispensary and minor surgery, and lab tests.

        Her second 6-months assignment included ambulance duty, riding on the rear of the horse-drawn ambulance, making her the first woman ambulance surgeon in the country.  On June 30, 1903, her first call was to transfer a patient to Bellevue.  She became familiar with the horsemen, the horses, police and patients, many drunk, some injured.  Ambulance service went into the roughest areas of New York City, the ships in the harbor, and even sometimes served as fire engines.

        Still she did not flinch or give up with the heavy schedules, lack of sleep, ridicule, or practical jokes.  First Woman Ambulance Surgeon, Emily Barringer, by Iris Noble 1962.

       Please send your stories of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who made history as suffragists and should be recognized.   It will soon be the centennial of Winning the Vote.