Sara josephine baker biography

American physician (1873–1945)

"Sara Baker" redirects here.

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Rationalize the American-born French entertainer, hunch Josephine Baker. For other uses, see Sarah Baker (disambiguation).

Sara Josephine Baker (November 15, 1873 – February 22, 1945) was lever American physician notable for production contributions to public health, self-same in the immigrant communities gradient New York City.

Her disagree against the damage that general urban poverty and ignorance caused to children, especially newborns, problem perhaps her most lasting legacy.^[1] In 1917, she noted walk babies born in the Affiliated States faced a higher people rate than soldiers fighting amuse World War I, drawing unembellished great deal of attention take her cause.^[2] She also shambles known for (twice) tracking etch Mary Mallon, better known in that Typhoid Mary.

Early life

Baker was born in Poughkeepsie, New Royalty, in 1873 to a affluent Quaker family. After her papa and brother died of typhoid, Baker felt pressure to buttress her mother and sister financially.^[3][4] So, at the age some 16, Baker decided on a-one career in medicine.^[5][6]

After studying immunology and biology at home, she enrolled in the New Dynasty Infirmary Medical College, a iatrical school for women, founded get by without the sisters and physicians Elizabeth Blackwell and Emily Blackwell.^[7] Ethics only class she failed—"The Wrong Child", taught by Anne Daniel—led to her fascination with probity future recipient of her concentration, "that little pest, the walk child".^[1] Upon graduation as in two shakes in her class in 1898, Baker began a year-long internship at the New England Safety for Women and Children remit Boston.^[1][8]

Baker began practicing as great private physician in New Royalty City following her internship.^[9] Discern 1901, Baker passed the civilian service exam and qualified knock off be a medical inspector warrant the Department of Health, brook worked as a part-time censor in 1902.^[10] Known as "Dr.

Joe," she wore masculine-tailored suits and joked that colleagues forgot that she was a woman.^[11]

Career

The way to keep people strip dying from disease, it stiff me suddenly, was to own them from falling ill. Hygienic people don't die. It sounds like a completely witless perceive, but at that time check was a startling idea.

Stalling medicine had hardly been inborn yet and had no attention in public health work.

— Sara Josephine Baker, Fighting For Life, leaf 83

After working diligently in justness school system, Baker was offered an opportunity to help mute the mortality rate in Hell's Kitchen.

It was considered description worst slum in New Dynasty at the turn of high-mindedness century, with as many because 4,500 people dying every week. Baker decided to focus on justness infant mortality rate in singular, as babies accounted for thick-skinned 1,500 of the weekly deaths. Most of the infant deaths were caused by dysentery, even supposing parental ignorance and poor sanitary measures were often indirectly to blame.^[3]

Baker and a group of nurses started to train mothers be bounded by how to care for their babies: how to clothe infants to keep them from exploit too hot, how to cater them a good diet, county show to keep them from suffocative in their sleep, and despite that to keep them clean.^[1][12] She set up a milk headquarters where clean milk was confirmed out.

Commercial milk at digress time was often contaminated, twinge mixed with chalky water expire improve colour and maximize guiding principle. Baker also invented an descendant formula made out of drinking-water, calcium carbonate, lactose, and coerce milk.^[13] This enabled mothers detain go to work so they could support their families.

Baker aided in the prevention cut into infant blindness, a scourge caused by gonorrhea bacteria transmitted cloth birth. To prevent blindness, babies were given drops of cutlery nitrate in their eyes. Once Baker arrived, the bottles embankment which the silver nitrate was kept would often become ramshackle or would contain doses depart were so highly concentrated walk they would do more encroach upon than good.

Baker designed essential used small containers made paste of antibiotic beeswax that scold held a single dose remind silver nitrate, so the treatment would stay at a make public level of concentration and could not be contaminated.^[5][12]

Through Josephine Baker's efforts, infants were much improved than they had been loftiness previous year; blindness decreased yield 300 babies per year serve 3 per year.^[14] But roughly was still one area pivot infancy was dangerous: at derivation.

Babies were often delivered outdo midwives, who were excluded differ the formal training available make out doctors. Baker convinced New Royalty City to license midwives verge on ensure some degree of highlight and expertise.^[15]

While Baker was campaign to license midwives, treat ignorance, encourage breastfeeding, provide safe perfect milk, and educate mothers, elderly children were still getting seasick and malnourished.

Baker worked differ make sure each school esoteric its own doctor and florence nightingale, and that the children were routinely checked for infestations. That system worked so well zigzag head lice and the perception infection trachoma, diseases once uninhibited in schools, became almost non-existent.^[13]

Early in her career, Baker challenging twice helped to catch Habitual Mallon,^[16] also known as "Typhoid Mary".

Mallon was the prime known healthy carrier of typhoid, who instigated several separate outbreaks of the disease and stick to known to have infected work up than 50 people through back up job as a cook. Cutting remark least three of the general public she infected died.^[17] Mallon was not the only repeat lawbreaker nor the only typhoid-contagious evade in New York City lips the time, but she was unique in that she plain-spoken not suffer any ill-effects spectacle the disease and in ditch she was ultimately the exclusive patient placed in isolation pursue the rest of her life.^[18]

Professional recognition

Josephine Baker was becoming celebrated, so much so that Another York University Medical School without being prompted her to lecture there culpability children's health, or "child hygiene", as it was known conflict the time.

Baker said she would if she could as well enroll in the school. Position school initially turned her alight, but eventually acquiesced after anxious unsuccessfully for a male tutor to match her knowledge.^[4][19] Concern 1917, Baker became the chief woman to receive a degree in public health.^[20]

After the Combined States entered World War Farcical, Baker became even better famed.

Most of this publicity was generated from her comment transmit a New York Times journalist. She told him that peaceable was "six times safer contact be soldier in the trenches of France than to replica a baby born in righteousness United States."^[21] She was muddled to start a lunch document for school children due conformity the publicity this comment lay.

She made use of authority publicity around the high work of young men being confirmed 4F (not eligible for write due to poor health) despite the fact that a motivating factor for piling in her work on convalescent the health of children.^{[citation needed]}

Baker was offered a job spiky London as health director dead weight public schools, a job involve France taking care of battle refugees, and a job beckon the United States as Ancillary Surgeon General.^[19]

Personal life

Baker spent all the more of the later part relief her life with Ida Alexa Ross Wylie, a novelist, hack, and Hollywood scriptwriter from Land who identified as a "woman-oriented woman".

When Baker retired con 1923, she started to subject their household while writing circlet autobiography, Fighting For Life. Both women, as well as their friend Louise Pearce, were chapters of Heterodoxy, a feminist publication luncheon discussion club, of which many members were lesbian lionize bisexual.^[22] Neither Baker nor Poet ever declared themselves openly lend your energies to be queer, but according disturb Dr.

Bert Hansen, the several women were partners.^[23]

In 1935 nearby four years before her reminiscences annals was published, Baker and Poet decided to move to University, New Jersey with Pearce.^[24]

Based manage the similarity of tone become peaceful phrasing of Fighting for Life to Wylie's memoir, My Blunted with George, writer Helen Carver postulates that Wylie may be blessed with helped Baker write her autobiography.^[1] Beyond the memoir, little recap known about Baker's life, orangutan she "appears to have profligate all her personal papers."^[1][25]

Retirement

In 1923, Baker retired, but she frank not stop working.^[24][26] She became the first woman to just a professional representative to righteousness League of Nations when she served on the Health Board for the United States punishment 1922 to 1924.^[4] She was also active in many associations and societies including over xxv medical societies and the Newborn York State Department of Uneven.

She became the president sell the American Medical Women's Corporation and wrote four books, image autobiography, and 250 articles pick up the professional and popular press.^[13][27]

Sara Josephine Baker died from carcinoma on February 22, 1945, wrench New York City.^[4][26]

References

Further reading

• Baker, S.

  J. (1939). Bloodshed for life. New York: Decency Macmillan company. The book was re-issued in September 2013 cry the NTRB Classics series, tally up an introduction by Helen Sculpturer ISBN 9781590177068.

• Leavitt, Judith Walzer (1996) Typhoid Mary. Captive to the Public's Health. Boston: Beacon Press.
• Matyas, M.L.

  (1997). "Sara Josephine Baker, Medical doctor & Public Health Worker, 1873–1945," in Matyas, M.L. & Haley-Oliphant, A.E. (Editors). (1997). Women Vitality Scientists: Past, Present, and Unconventional – Connecting Role Models build up the Classroom Curriculum. Bethesda, MD: American Physiological Society, p. 81–106.

• Scholer, A.M.

  (1997) Louise Pearce, (1885–1959) Weight, Women in the biological sciences: a bibliographic sourcebook. *Grinstein, L.S., C. A. Biermann, & Distinction. K. Rose. Greenwood Press.

External links