Anna Hamilton
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Anna Hamilton (22 May 1864 — 19 October 1935) was a French medical doctor, superintendent of the Protestant Hospital in Bordeaux for 34 years, and a proponent of professionalization in nursing.


Early life

Anna-Emilie Hamilton was born in Fiesole, the daughter of Frenchwoman Zulma Pilatte and Frederic Hamilton, an Englishman of some wealth, who lived in France. She was educated at Chambéry and Geneva, and was the first woman enrolled in the medical school at Marseille. She earned her medical degree at
Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
in 1901, with a thesis proposing reforms for nurses' training in France.
Minnie Goodnow Minnie Goodnow (July 10, 1871 – February 9, 1952) was an American nurse, nursing educator, and historian of nursing. During World War I she was a member of the second Harvard Unit of nurses who sailed for France in late 1915. Early life Minnie G ...

"A Distinguished Sister"
''Trained Nurse and Hospital Review'' (March 1919): 157-158.
The thesis was later published as a book.


Career

Hamilton attended the first International Congress of Nurses meeting in London in 1899. She became superintendent of the Protestant Hospital at Bordeaux (La Maison de santé protestante de Bordeaux) from 1901, and founder of the associated Florence Nightingale School for nurses. She believed it best for a nurse to train nurses, so she hired Englishwoman Catherine Ellston to head the nursing school. Before the twentieth century, many of the functions of nursing in French hospitals had been performed by religious sisters; Hamilton commented on the difference, saying "What most surprises the doctors (all more or less prejudiced against lady nurses) is the fact that they do for the patients so many things the nuns would object to do, and they do not discuss and meddle with the doctor's orders." In 1904 she and Julie Siegfried were the only two women accepted into the Protestant Association for the Practical Study of Social Issues (l'Association protestante pour l'étude pratique des questions sociales), an organization founded by
Christian socialists Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...
Tommy Fallot and Charles Gide. In 1906 she founded ''La Garde-Malade hospitalière'', the first professional journal for nurses in French. She also founded the French National Council of Hospital Directors (le Conseil national français des directrices d’hôpitaux). During World War I the Protestant Hospital became a military hospital. She spent several months on a lecture tour in the United States in 1919, sponsored by the
American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...
, raising funds for hospital expansion and improvements. In 1930, Hamilton was made a knight of the Legion of Honour.


Personal life

Hamilton resigned her position as head of the Protestant Hospital in 1934. She died from cancer in 1935, aged 71 years. There are letters written by Hamilton in the
Mary Adelaide Nutting Mary Adelaide Nutting (November 1, 1858 – October 3, 1948) was a Canadian nurse, educator, and pioneer in the field of hospital care. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University's first nurse training program in 1891, Nutting helped to found ...
Papers, Teachers College, Columbia University. The nursing school Hamilton founded remains in operation."The American Nurses Memorial of Bordeaux"
''American Nurse Today'' (April 2018): 46-47.


References


External links


"Histoire de la fondation"
official website of the Maison de santé protestante de Bordeaux-Bagatelle. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Anna 1864 births 1935 deaths French women in World War I 20th-century French physicians People from Fiesole Physicians from Bordeaux