The American Women’s Hospitals in World War I France: "Across Battlefields and into Villages”

When they arrived in France, the doctors of American Women's Hospitals (AWH) found a ravaged countryside and villagers ailing from longstanding health problems made worse by wartime conditions. The first hospital established by the AWH in July 1918 was in Neufmotiers, a small village about twenty miles southeast of Paris. In September of 1918, the hospital was moved to Luzancy so that it was closer to the devastated areas and where the doctors handled dysentery, typhoid, influenza, and pneumonia as well as performing long overdue surgeries. The doctors of AWH did their medical work under extremely difficult circumstances: scarcity of equipment, improvised spaces, poor transportation, and constant uncertainty and insecurity because the front line of battle was always moving back and forth throughout the countryside. The women physicians were welcomed and appreciated by local villagers, and purposefully cultivated good relations with local French officials.

The armistice that ended the war in Western Europe on November 11, 1918, did not change conditions in the areas devastated by the war. The doctors of AWH believed that the end of war did not mean the end of their services. People who had experienced the deprivations and destruction of war continued to suffer from its effects long after the fighting had ended: local violence, hunger, injuries, communicable diseases, forced migration, and inadequate housing. Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, the chair of AWH, stated that the aftermath of war was in fact “worse than the War in some countries.” As towns and villages were restored with a healthy population, the AWH moved on to assist in newly devastated areas.

In June of 1919, the hospital was moved to Blérancourt, a town about 75 miles north of Luzancy, as local French doctors returned to Luzancy and its surrounding areas and living conditions improved greatly. At Blérancourt, the doctors attended to preventive health care, particularly vaccinations for small pox and typhoid. The AWH initiated dispensaries over a wide area. This region was just on the edge of the Battle of the Marne, an area that saw a large number of refugees. Dr. M. Louise Hurrell's (director of the AWH hospitals) reports to the AWH describe illness and epidemics compounded by lack of food, fuel and clothing, as well as unsanitary conditions. However, the work of the AWH and its support networks helped each area recover. The pride of the hospitals were its ambulance drivers and surgeons - all women - who served the 20,000 patients over the course of a year. The French government honored Dr. Hurrell and other AWH physicians with the Medailles de Reconnaissance, awarded in recognition of those who, without military obligation, had come to the aid of the injured, disabled, refugees, or who had performed an act of exceptional dedication in the presence of the enemy during the First World War.