Doctor or Doctress?

Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians

A seemingly unstable but inhabited wooden home in the mountainous Applachian region of the United States. A table can be seen inside and the roof bears what appears to be a tin-can chimney.

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The American Women’s Hospitals at Home: Public Health in Depression-Era Appalachia

The American Women’s Hospitals (AWH) was founded by women physicians in 1918 to provide medical care to the people of war-torn France during World War I. AWH subsequently established hospitals in other parts of Europe and Western Asia, continuing to provide medical care to devastated populations after the wars and conflicts had officially ended. In the 1930s, the AWH established itself in the rural, mountainous, Southern Highlands of the United States, in a region known today as Appalachia. Even before the Depression, Appalachia was a relatively impoverished region, and was geographically isolated with few roads or means of transportation in or out of the area. The economic crisis of the Great Depression only increased the severity of the region’s existing poverty and lack of quality education and healthcare. The AWH established a mobile health clinic, and launched a wide-ranging/multi-faceted public health and health education program to combat the region’s rampant health problems, which included malnutrition-related diseases (such as Pellagra) and highly contagious and potentially fatal diseases such as typhoid, tuberculosis, and diphtheria.

This condition of the home in this photo illustrates the rugged and impoverished circumstances of Appalachian residents. The AWH documented the region’s physical environment in their efforts to implement improvements in the health, hygiene, and welfare of the residents.

Creator: American Women's Hospitals

Language: english

Item Number: a144_192

Pages: 1

Size: 14.7 x 9cm

Physical Collection: Records of American Women`s Hospitals 1917-1982 (ACC-144), ACC-144

Finding Aid: http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/detail.html?id=PACSCL_DUCOM_WMSC144

Cite this source: Title of document, date. The American Women’s Hospitals at Home: Public Health in Depression-Era Appalachia. Doctor or Doctress?: Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians. The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine Archives & Special Collections. Philadelphia, PA. Date of access. doctordoctress.org/islandora/object/islandora:1859

American Women's Hospitals

Buildings

Rural health services

Appalachian Region, Southern