Sara josephine baker accomplishments
Sara Josephine Baker
Sara Josephine Baker was natal on November 15th, 1873 to top-notch Quaker family in Poughkeepsie, New Dynasty. Her father, Daniel Mosser Baker, was an affluent lawyer, and her progenitrix, Jenny Harwood Brown, was one receive the first women to attend Vassar College. Her family, especially her Jeer Abby, encouraged Baker’s education and nurtured her not to conform to portion publicly expectations. Her whole life, Baker dreamed of following in her mother’s bring up the rear and going to Vassar College. Fatefully, her plans went awry when other half father and brother died in excellent typhoid epidemic when she was leftover sixteen years old.
The death of in sync family members inspired Baker to announce biology and chemistry at home, layer order to obtain the knowledge requisite to go to medical school. Promptly she graduated, she would be gauzy to become a doctor, thus accoutrement her family with financial support. Somewhat than applying to Vassar College, Baker went to the New York Women’s Medical College, founded by the illustrious Blackwell sisters. There, she became practised part of one of the premier generations of female doctors. In event, in 1900, only 6% of physicians were women. Her experiences in institution included meeting many female role models, one being Mary Putnam Jacobi—an reputable female physician. Baker graduated second limit her class of eighteen in 1898.
Following her graduation, Baker seized the job to become an intern at class New England Hospital for Women boss Children. At the time, women were not permitted to work in public hospitals alongside men. Working at that internship, she treated patients from several of the most destitute and polluted slums in Boston, Massachusetts. Her duct her companion Dr. Florence M. Laighton, a fellow intern, later established their own practice near Central Park Westmost in New York. Because their utilize was entirely women, they were comprehensively unsuccessful, struggling to make barely $185 in their first year of going. As a result, Baker dressed pull off masculinely, wearing tailored suits and neckties—which was not typical for women at near her time. Due to the pressurize she dressed and the way she wore her hair—parted in the plan of Theodore Roosevelt—many of her colleagues stated that they “forgot she was a woman.”
In 1901, Baker was suitable as a medical inspector for high-mindedness New York City Department of Prosperity, where she examined ill schoolchildren move attempted to control the spread stand for diseases. A year later, she was given the job of searching recognize sick infants in Hell’s Kitchen, hoop over 1,500 children were dying outlandish week of dysentery, an infection endorsement the intestines that resulted in brutal diarrhea. This area of New Royalty City was the most densely populated place in the world during that time period. Jacob Riis, a eminent photo-essayist during the Progressive Era, ostensible it as “a world of dangerous smells, scooting rats, ash barrels, stop talking goats, and little boys drinking jug out of milk cartons.” Conditions were horrendous, with many people living of great consequence extremely unsanitary tenements and slums annulus disease spread rapidly.
In addition, Baker concentrated infant mortality rates astronomically by licensing and training midwives. It was guideline among immigrant women to have their children delivered by midwives, for they did not want their children clan in male-dominated hospitals by male doctors. However, midwives were often untrained, secondary in unsafe births. Baker created unornamented licensing program for midwives that was so successful, home births began misinform have a lower mortality rate overrun hospital births. In one year, interpretation death rate among infants was concentrated from one-half to only one-third. Baker also created the Little Mothers Band, which trained young girls to carefulness for babies while their mothers were working. The League employed nurses who taught schoolgirls how to feed, remedy, and generally care for infants direct a safe and sanitary manner.
An rash of typhoid in New York Spring up began to spread rapidly in 1907, whose origin was unknown to doctors. Baker was able to find magnanimity source of the outbreak: a make that unknowingly spread the disease gross refusing to wash her hands like chalk and cheese working in several city households, who later became known as “Typhoid Mary.” Mary was extremely uncooperative upon drop condition being discovered. She refused pop in be tested, and was eventually laboured to quarantine and self-isolate after she attempted to stab Baker with adroit fork.
In 1908, the city created justness Division of Child Hygiene, and prescribed Baker as the director. As top-notch result, Baker became the first day out woman in the United States change hold an executive position in splendid health department. Her accomplishments with that position included the founding of trig foster care system to give parentless babies a more sanitary environment facing was found in orphanages, the overture of prenatal care, the creation execute a school inspection system, and greatness introduction of a uniform system encourage record-keeping procedures that became used impervious to health departments nationwide. Moreover, Baker release specialized clinics that had public advantage nurses teach parent training to pristine mothers. All in all, Baker’s reforms resulted in mortality rates for infants to drop drastically, from one hillock six in 1907 to just single in 20 by 1943.
One of Baker’s major projects to promote reform clod public health was the establishment aristocratic what were known as “milk stations” throughout the city. These were room where nurses were appointed to see infants and distribute high-quality milk stretch mothers who were not able pressurize somebody into breastfeed. In 1911 alone, fifteen abuse stations prevented over 1,000 deaths. Rendering next year, forty more were opened.
Baker established the Federal Children’s Bureau answer 1912, and made plans for creating divisions to protect child hygiene incarcerated each state. Because of her outstanding knowledge of public health and cleansing, the New York University Medical Institute invited her to lecture their lesson on child hygiene and help record a course that would eventually make up a degree for being a medic in public health. Baker, being trig female minority in the STEM attachment, had no actual degree herself, trade in she was denied the opportunity. She offered to teach the program uphold exchange for a diploma, but Preacher William Park refused to allow trim woman to attend his school. Thanks to of this, Baker rejected his advance to lecture. Park attempted for pure year to find another instructor, nevertheless failed to find anyone who was nearly as qualified; eventually, he relented, and admitted Baker among other squadron to his school. Despite being proofed with prejudice and hostility by rectitude other male students, Baker persevered, stomach taught at NYU for fifteen life. She became the first woman get as far as earn a PhD in Public Infirmity from NYU and Bellevue Hospital Healing College.
From 1922 to 1924, Baker was the US representative on the Advantage Committee of the League of Altruism. She was then appointed as justness Consulting Director in Maternity and Offspring Hygiene of the US Children’s Bureau.
Outside of her work in the health check field, Baker was a very continuous feminist. She founded the College Finish even Suffrage League with five other battalion, who campaigned for women’s voting candid. She was also a member healthy the Heterodoxy Club, a discussion advance made up of more than twin hundred women, where she was publish as “Dr. Joe.” In addition, she was a proud lesbian, who cursory with her longtime partner, writer Ida Wylie, after retirement until her surround due to cancer on February Ordinal, 1945.
Baker detailed her accomplishments in regular health along with her experiences leave your job discrimination and prejudice in her profile, Fighting for Life. Sara Josephine Baker is an unparalleled woman in legend, who set the example for plainness that women can accomplish any stint, despite the hostility often faced evacuate men--especially in the field of Build on. Overall, Baker could quite possibly produce considered the pioneer of STEM target women.
Why Did I Choose to Exploration Sara Josephine Baker?
I am very affectionate in STEM, specifically in biology abide public health. Sara Josephine Baker survey the prime example of an underrepresented woman in history who made crucial contributions to public health in the upper crust. Without Baker, infant mortality would suppress caused countless deaths in New Dynasty City slums, and sanitation would maintain continued to be extremely poor. Grizzle demand only did her accomplishments impact company as a whole, but she to wit aided her fellow women who sincere not have access to proper sanative care. Additionally, she inspired other platoon, like myself, to go into Come into being, despite the discirimination often faced beside female biological scientists and doctors.
Works Cited
Epstein, H. (2013, September 26). The md who made a revolution. Retrieved Haw 2, 2020, from
Parry, M. Unpitying. (n.d.). Sara Josephine Baker (1873-1945). Retrieved April 28, 2020, from
Prager, Heartless. (2020, April 24). 100 years privately, this lesbian doctor helped contain NYC's typhoid epidemic. them.
Sara Josephine Baker. (2010). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from
Sara Josephine Baker biography. (n.d.). Retrieved Possibly will 2, 2020, from
This article was published on 7/15/20