In the healthcare field, male doctors outnumber female doctors; however, females outnumber males when it comes to nursing. The first American trained nurse was named Linda Richards and she is pictured on the left. Richards has greatly contributed to our modern healthcare system and she is responsible for creating the first system that logged individual medical records for patients that were hospitalized. The phrase "the future is female" relates to a variety of topics but Linda truly believed in that phrase and dedicated herself to training the first female nurse in Japan.
Although gender discrimination largely impacted women from becoming involved in the medical field in the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell defied the odds and became the first woman to graduate from medical school and the first woman receive a medical degree in the United States. Blackwell encouraged all women to study medicine and therefore she established her own medical college for women.
Linda Richards and Elizabeth Blackwell are two names that you may not have been familiar with until after reading this, but there are countless names of other courageous and heroic female healthcare workers that you do not know who are on the front lines fighting this aggressive and unforgiving virus. Thank you to all of the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers whose names are unknown, but their actions will forever speak louder than words.
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