Ida Sophia Scudder
Ida Sophia Scudder (* 9. December 1870 in Empire India ; † 24. May 1960 in Kodaikanal, Vellore , Tamil Nadu , Indian Union ) was in what is now Tamil Nadu in South India acting American doctor and missionary, from a missionary family from the Reformed Church in America .
Life
Scudder was born in South India as the child and granddaughter of a family that had been working as doctors and missionaries in Ceylon and India for two generations . In her youth she witnessed the Great Famine of 1877-1878 and was confronted with the diseases that were rampant in India such as bubonic plague , cholera and poverty . At the invitation of the missionary Dwight Lyman Moody , she was educated at Northfield Seminary in Northfield, Massachusetts , USA.
In 1890 Scudder returned to her parents' household in Tindivanam , Presidency Madras , to help her father. There she had the drastic experience that she could not help several women during the birth within one night and they died. After that, she made up her mind that she wanted to learn the profession of doctor in order to be able to help the women after their return to India.
Scudder began her medical school in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City . There she was one of the first women to graduate from Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University in 1899 . She went back to Vellore in southern India in 1900 with a grant to set up a hospital and other donations that she was able to collect with the help of the Danish Mission Society . She started with very modest means and was able to open the Mary Taber Schell Hospital in 1902 .
College and hospital
Over the years, Scudder's idea of setting up a training center for midwives and female medical staff matured. In the first year of training in 1918 there were already 151 applicants for the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, which was supported in the early years by the Reformed Church in America. In 1928 a site in Bagayam above Vellore was selected for the training facility, where the campus of the university hospital is still located today . Scudder was able to collect large amounts of donations on various trips to the USA. After the college was opened to male applicants in 1945, several mission societies joined in as supporters. Today the hospital is the largest Christian hospital in the world with 2000 beds.
Honors
- 1952: Elizabeth Blackwell Citation of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary
- 2000: A 3 rupee postage stamp from the Indian Post on Independence Day shows the college's church.
literature
- Dorothy C. Wilson: Fifty Years as a Missionary Doctor in India. Dr. Ida Scudder, 1870-1961 . R. Brockhaus, Wuppertal, 18th edition 1995, ISBN 3-417-21902-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Scudder, Ida Sophia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American doctor and missionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 9, 1870 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Empire of India |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 24, 1960 |
| Place of death | Kodaikanal, Vellore , Tamil Nadu , Indian Union |