{"id":125340,"date":"2024-07-30T11:19:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T16:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=125340"},"modified":"2024-07-30T11:19:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T16:19:50","slug":"doctor-curmudgeon-another-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=125340","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Curmudgeon Another First!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=125340\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=125340\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-125341 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/susan.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/susan.png 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/susan-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist\/cardiologist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She was the daughter of an Omaha Tribal Chief and she never forgot what he told his daughters: \u201cDo you always want to be simply called those Indians or do you want to go to school and be somebody in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And so, Susan La Flesche Picotte became a warrior on her path to become the first Native American physician.<\/p>\n<p>She was born in 1865 in a tipi made of hide on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Susan\u2019s defining moment occurred when she was only eight years old. One evening she sat by the bedside of a Native American woman who was in severe pain. Four messengers were sent to the white doctor from the Indian Agency. Each time, the messenger was told that the physician would be there quite soon. Before the sun rose, the woman died a painful death. The Agency doctor never appeared. An article by Carson Vaughan in the Smithsonian magazine on line: \u201cThe episode would haunt La Flesche for years to come, but it would steel her too. \u2018It was only an Indian,\u2019 she would later recall, \u2018and it did not matter.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Susan was fortunate in having a father who encouraged education and believed the only chance for survival of the indigenous people was to be part of their own culture and also of the white culture.<\/p>\n<p>Pursuing an education, she left her family at the age of fourteen to attend boarding school at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies.<\/p>\n<p>I can only imagine the bravery and determination it took for this teen-aged Indian woman to undertake the long train ride to New Jersey. After graduating from the Elizabeth Institute, she attended the Hampton Institute in Virginia, graduating as salutatorian.<\/p>\n<p>But she never forgot the night that she had sat with the dying Indian woman denied medical care or compassion from a white physician. And Susan herself had lived among tuberculosis, cholera, measles, dysentery, trachoma and unsanitary conditions. Susan had to become a physician. This was her path.<\/p>\n<p>Not an easy time for a woman to pursue a medical degree, let alone an indigenous woman.<\/p>\n<p>The Women\u2019s Medical College of Pennsylvania was now open and dedicated to allowing women to earn the degree of Doctor of Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Of Course, Susan was accepted, but there were financial obstacles. A family friend came forward. The friend had contact with many women\u2019s organizations and was able to secure some financial help for Susan. The Connecticut Indian Association granted more aid for her books, housing and supplies.<\/p>\n<p>Susan was on her way. She graduated from medical school in1889 as the class valedictorian.<\/p>\n<p>On returning to the reservation, she discovered that she was the only physician responsible for the care of more than twelve hundred people. Her territory covered over thirteen hundred square miles. Undaunted, Susan drove her horse-drawn buggy through oppressive heat and fierce snowstorms.<\/p>\n<p>This Indian woman did not discriminate and also cared for the white people in nearby communities.<\/p>\n<p>Susan La Flesche Picotte&#8211;a woman doctor when there were so few in America&#8211;when women who desired to become physicians were laughed at&#8211;the first Native American Indian physician.<\/p>\n<p>(EDITOR\u2019S NOTE FROM GALAHAD, THE SIBERIAN HUSKY WHO IS DOCTOR CURMUDGEON\u2019S COUSIN: It is important to note the tenor of the times in which Susan lived. The Connecticut Indian Association that granted some of her financial aid stipulating that she must remain single while a medical student and for many years during her practice)<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Curmudgeon suggests &#8220;Bitter Medicine\u201d, Dr. Eugene Eisman&#8217;s story of his experiences&#8211;from the humorous to the intense&#8212;as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.<br \/>\nBitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. &#8211;on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bitter-Medicine-Doctors-Year-Vietnam\/dp\/0615874347\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Doctor Curmudgeon\u00ae is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.<br \/>\nSERMO <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sermo.com\">www.sermo.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist\/cardiologist She was the daughter of an Omaha Tribal Chief and she never forgot what he told his daughters: \u201cDo you always want to be simply called those Indians or do you want [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32246],"class_list":["post-125340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-doctor-curmudgeon-another-first"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125340"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/125341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}