Mormon Female Physician!!! That’s me!!!
I feel so blessed because I’ve had the opportunity to pursue my education in a field where I will be able to bless the lives of others around me.
I have a lot to say about this topic. I think I’ll start with this… I feel it is very natural for women to be physicians. I was lucky enough to take a 12-day trip to Nepal with Choice Humanitarian during a two week break during my second year of med school. The group I was with traveled up into the Badagaun villiage – approximately 45 minutes by foot outside of Beshishahar – a little town where many set off to trek in the Annapurnas. We worked with the villagers to build a school. Four of the villagers are readily remembered because they needed minor medical attention. A beautiful little girl had fallen on the steep rock steps that led up to the school house – she had a deep gash through her eyebrow. A little boy had a deep cut on his ear lobe that kept bleeding and rebleeding. A man had a small wound on the front of his leg with a nasty green scab and some white stuff around it. I asked the man what the white stuff was. “Toothpaste” he said. I motioned to the nearby water well and told him he should wash his leg off with water. He showed me the wound the next day, it looked much better. Lastly, there was an elderly gentleman with a wound on his hand with a honey colored crusty, serous exudate. We showed him how to clean and dress his hand. These are just a snapshot of the type of minor medical care needed in the village. On the second day of our visit – all the women in our group sat with some of the village women and they spoke to us about their desires. They talked about how they struggled with rebelious children, and how they desired medical knowledge to keep their families healthy.
I am struck with how innate the desire for medical knowledge is for women. These women – living in a village where they had just received a well for drinking water and electricity only months before – desired medical knowledge. A very basic need. And who better to administer medical care than mothers, or women who nurture and care for individuals.
One of my favorite quotes from Brigham Young is as follows:
“As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief Societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are useful not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic [medicine], or become good book-keepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and this to enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.” (DBY, 216–17) (This is the last paragraph of Chapter 19: The Relief Society and Personal Responsibility – from the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young – I found it at just the right time, printed it off and hung it on my fridge!!!!!)
Thank you Brigham. Thank you.
Let us, my sisters, develop our God given talents and use them to bless the lives of those around us. Let us stand as examples of truth and righteousness and glorify our Father in Heaven as we do so.
DoctorC
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candice
I agree that women do have a thirst for medical knowledge. My sister and sister in laws call to ask questions when their kids get sick and 9 times out of 10, if they tell me the symptoms their child is having and I ask a few questions, I can diagnose the problem and direct what they need to do to get the child better. Croup, Rotavirus, RSV, Strep throat. The potential for helping just our own families is great, but like you mentioned, the chance to alleviate suffering in third world countries is enormous.
Di
I LOVE LOVE LOVE being an MFP!!!! (Thanks for your enthusiasm DoctorC!)
Now that my general training is over (phew!) I’ve been contemplating if I should seek more training…and I probably will. But there’s a time to every season, right? For now, what I’m doing is perfect for me and the right thing for us…
Don
Looking for how I an LDS man like myself can get in touch with LDS female doctors for socializing, etc. Thank you. Don (South Dakota
mindi
Nice D, you are attracting interest from all over the states… referring to the previous comment.
What a beautiful posting. You are a wonderful doctor.. and make some fabulous points. Always insightful and thought provoking in your postings. It is an intriguing field to me, and yet something I cannot fully stomach, or handle emotionally. I guess you get better at it the longer you are around it.
What a strong person you are… so blessed to know you.
Hope you and D are well.
Di
Mindi, thanks for the comment! It was a post written by one of the contributors – she is a most excellent physician.
Don, thank you for your comments. We always appreciate those who follow the blog.
Valerie
I am not a physician, but do have a thirst for medical knowledge like you discussed and I love that quote by Brigham Young. I enjoyed reading a bit of the blog today and hope to come back to read more soon. What a great idea for a blog!