American Women's Hospitals Service

Last updated

The American Women's Hospitals Service (AWHS) is a charitable organization that promotes the relief of suffering worldwide by supporting independent clinics to provide care to high risk populations and by providing travel grants to medical students and residents to perform clinical projects abroad in under-served areas. They are partnered with the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) - an organization of women physicians, medical students and others seeking the advancement of women in medicine.

Contents

Early history

American Women's Hospitals personnel, including Esther Pohl Lovejoy, in 1918 American Women's Hospitals personnel in 1918.jpg
American Women's Hospitals personnel, including Esther Pohl Lovejoy, in 1918

In 1917 the Medical Women's National Association (which was later renamed AMWA) established a war service committee in order to create a census of the medical women in the country and to plan how to apply their resources to the war effort. World War I had already entered into its third year, women at that time were not accepted by military branches of the government, and the government had no plan to organize them for war service. The war service committee, adopting the name American Women's Hospitals, decided that they wanted to provide individual medical service abroad and also establish military hospitals overseas. [1]

In its first year, AWH partnered with the Red Cross and civilian medical organizations to send abroad 62 AWH volunteer doctors as well as 30 technicians and lay workers to France, Serbia, Palestine and Greece. [1] AWH also established its first hospital in Neufmoutiers-en-Brie, France, in July 1918. [2] This hospital, financed entirely by AWH, had 25 beds and a staff of 15 women. In the US, AWH arranged for hospitals for convalescent soldiers, for care for soldiers' dependents, and for laboratory training courses in order to address the critical shortage at that time of skilled lab workers. [1]

Although the armistice was signed a year later, the ensuing local wars, revolutions, earthquakes, famine and millions of destitute refugees meant that medical assistance remained urgently needed around the world. AWH expanded its service at home and multiple countries abroad in order to address the thousands who looked for help. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Veterans Affairs</span> Department of the United States government

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America</span> Jewish-American volunteer womens organization

Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the United States. Hadassah fundraises for community programs and health initiatives in Israel, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, two leading research hospitals in Jerusalem. In the US, the organization advocates on behalf of women's rights, religious autonomy and US–Israel diplomacy. In Israel, Hadassah supports health education and research, women's initiatives, schools and programs for underprivileged youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers</span> American governmental institution for veterans

The National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was established on March 3, 1865, in the United States by Congress to provide care for volunteer soldiers who had been disabled through loss of limb, wounds, disease, or injury during service in the Union forces in the American Civil War. Initially, the Asylum, later called the Home, was planned to have three branches: in the Northeast, in the central area north of the Ohio River, and in what was then considered the Northwest, the present upper Midwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Red Cross</span> American nonprofit humanitarian organization

The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the designated US affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United States movement to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in World War I</span> Womens roles in WW1 society

Women in World War I were mobilized in unprecedented numbers on all sides. The vast majority of these women were drafted into the civilian work force to replace conscripted men or to work in greatly expanded munitions factories. Thousands served in the military in support roles, and in some countries many saw combat as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Pohl Lovejoy</span> American physician

Esther Pohl Lovejoy was an American physician and public health pioneer, suffrage activist, congressional candidate, and a central figure in early efforts to organize international medical relief work. In 1907, Lovejoy became the first woman appointed to direct a department of health in a major U.S city: the Board of Health in Portland, Oregon. Lovejoy worked on the women's suffrage campaigns in Oregon in 1906 and 1912, and founded the Everybody's Equal Suffrage League ahead of the 1912 election, when Oregon became the 7th state to grant women the right to vote. Lovejoy was among the founders of the Medical Women's International Association and was elected as its first president in 1919. Lovejoy ran for the U.S. Congress in 1920 as the Democratic candidate for Portland’s Third District but was not successful against the sitting Republican. She was awarded the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal by the American Medical Women's Association in 1951 and 1957 for contributions to the field of medicine. On July 21, 2012, the Century of Action Committee honored her and three other suffragists—Harriet Redmond, Harry Lane, and Martha Cardwell Dalton—by installing new headstones for them at the Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, where their initial headstones had become overgrown. The installation ceremony included costumed portrayals of the four suffragists and was attended by Barbara Roberts, a former Oregon governor. This event took place as part of the Century of Action Committee's year-long celebration of 100 years of suffrage for women in Oregon and as part of their efforts to call attention to remaining voting barriers for minorities.

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a Canadian non-profit mental health organization that focusing on resources, programs and advocacy. It was founded on April 22, 1918, by Dr. Clarence M. Hincks and Clifford W. Beers. Originally named the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene, it is one of the largest and oldest voluntary health organizations operating in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Health (Turkey)</span> Government ministry of the Republic of Turkey

The Ministry of Health is the ministry of the Government of Turkey responsible for proposing and executing the government policy on health, planning and providing healthcare and protecting consumers. Likewise, it is responsible for proposing and executing the government policy on social cohesion and inclusion, family, protection of minors, youth and of care for dependent or disabled persons. The Ministry is headquartered in the Bakanlıklar in Ankara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soroka Medical Center</span> Hospital in Negev, Israel

Soroka University Medical Center, part of the Clalit Health Services Group, is the general hospital of Beersheba, Israel, it serves as the central hospital of the region and provides medical services to approximately one million residents of the South, from Kiryat Gat and Ashkelon to Eilat. Soroka is the largest general hospital in Israel, with 1,173 hospital beds, and it is spread over an area of 291 dunams in the center of Beer-Sheva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthcare in Israel</span> Overview of the health care system in Israel

Healthcare in Israel is universal and participation in a medical insurance plan is compulsory. All Israeli residents are entitled to basic health care as a fundamental right. The Israeli healthcare system is based on the National Health Insurance Law of 1995, which mandates all citizens resident in the country to join one of four official health insurance organizations, known as Kupat Holim which are run as not-for-profit organizations and are prohibited by law from denying any Israeli resident membership. Israelis can increase their medical coverage and improve their options by purchasing private health insurance. In a survey of 48 countries in 2013, Israel's health system was ranked fourth in the world in terms of efficiency, and in 2014 it ranked seventh out of 51. In 2020, Israel's health system was ranked third most efficient in the world. In 2015, Israel was ranked sixth-healthiest country in the world by Bloomberg rankings and ranked eighth in terms of life expectancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ukrainian Red Cross Society</span>

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is a non-profit humanitarian and charitable association of Ukraine. It operates in disaster management, health and care, tracing service, youth activities/volunteers, and activities related to the protection of human dignity. Since 1993, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society has been a member of the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies.

The Swiss Red Cross, or SRC, is the national Red Cross society for Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas William Salmon</span> American physician

Thomas William Salmon, M.D. (1876-1927) was a leader of the mental hygiene movement in the United States in early twentieth century.

Mental health in the Philippines is a survey of the status of psychological, psychiatric, and emotional health care in the Philippines from both past and present programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Library War Service</span>

The Library War Service was established by the American Library Association in 1917 to provide library services to American soldiers training in camps and serving overseas in World War I. Between 1917 and 1920, the ALA raised $5 million from public donations, erected 36 camp libraries, distributed 7 to 10 million books and magazines, and provided library collections to more than 500 locations, including military hospitals. The Library War Service also provided books in Braille to soldiers that were blinded in battle. Library War Service librarians wore uniforms, similar to those worn by other volunteer groups like the American Red Cross, and the Library War Service provides some of the earliest examples of women participating in uniformed war service overseas. Millions of public libraries in the United States also participated in Library War Service activities, serving as collection points for books as well as places to organize and promote the War Service campaign. The efforts of the Library War Service eventually led to the creation of many modern library services, including the creation of library departments in the Army, Navy, Veterans' Association and Merchant Marine, as well as the establishment of the American Library in Paris, which remains the largest English-language lending library on the European continent today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National League for Women's Service</span> US civilian volunteer organisation in the First World War

The National League for Women's Service (NLWS) was a United States civilian volunteer organisation formed in January 1917 to provide stateside war services such as feeding, caring for and transporting soldiers, veterans and war workers and was described as "America's largest and most remarkable war emergency organization."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalie Slaughter Morton</span> American physician

Rosalie Slaughter Morton was an American physician, surgeon, and author. In addition to running her own medical practices, she became the first woman appointed as Attending Surgeon at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1916, and was the first chairperson of the American Women's Hospitals Service a year later. Morton served as a medic during the First World War, and was the first chair of the Public Health Education Committee. She was also one of the first women to join the faculty, and to later become a professor, at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York.

The Joint War Organisation (JWO) was a combined operation of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem during the World Wars. It was first created in 1914 and ceased operations when World War I ended in 1919; the organisation was re-formed upon the British entry into World War II in 1939 and was active until its permanent disbanding in 1947. The Joint War Committee (JWC), a non-government administrative body, controlled the JWO and the Joint War Finance Committee managed its finances and concentrated on raising donations and funding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Breckenridge Karpeles</span> American medical doctor (1887-1941)

Kate Breckenridge Karpeles was an American medical doctor. She was the first woman to be appointed a contract surgeon by the United States Army, during World War I, and she served as president of the American Medical Women's Association.

The Woman's Improvement Club of Indianapolis, Indiana, was formed in 1903 by Lillian Thomas Fox, Beulah Wright Porter, and other prominent African American women as a small literary group to improve their education, but it was especially active and best known for its pioneering efforts to provide facilities to care for the city's African American tuberculosis patients from 1905 to the mid-1930s. The clubwomen also supported the war effort during World War I and provided social service assistance to Indianapolis's impoverished residents and its African American youth. By 1960, when tuberculosis was no longer a major health threat, the club continued its support of the local black community in other ways, such as a visiting nurse program and scholarships to students graduating from Crispus Attucks High School students. In the mid-1960s, after its membership significantly declined, its records were donated to the Indiana Historical Society.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Walker, Gertrude (1918). "The American Women's Hospitals". New York Evening Post. 33 (304).
  2. Lamphier, Peg (2017). Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO. p. 12. ISBN   1610696034.
  3. "American Women's Hospitals". JAMWA. 5 (8). 1968.