Dame Cecily Mary Wise Pickerill (née Clarkson, 9 February 1903 – 21 July 1988) was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who specialised in treating infants with cleft palates and other conditions needing plastic surgery. She successfully demonstrated that care of hospitalised infants by their mothers prevented infections.

Life and career

Cecily Mary Wise Clarkson was born in

Taihape Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town. History and culture Early ...

, New Zealand, in 1903, the daughter of Margaret Ann Clarkson ( Hunter) and Rev. Percy Wise Clarkson, Taihape's first Anglican vicar. She was educated at Taihape School and the Diocesan High School for Girls (in Auckland). In 1921, she began her medical studies at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, graduating MB, ChB in 1925. As a house surgeon in Dunedin, she was a pupil of

Henry Pickerill Henry Percy Pickerill (1879–1956) was a British-born New Zealand dental surgeon and researcher, university administrator and plastic surgeon. Pickerill made major contributions to several fields of dentistry and plastic surgery both in N ...

, Dean of the University of Otago Dental School, a pioneering plastic surgeon, and facial and jaw surgeon at Dunedin Hospital. In 1927, Henry left Dunedin to take up a post at the

Royal North Shore Hospital The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and has over 600 beds. It is the prin ...

in Sydney, where Cecily joined him to assist and train in plastic surgery. In 1934, she married Pickerill, who was 27 years her senior. Soon after they returned to Wellington. In 1939 they opened the Bassam Hospital in Bloomfield Terrace, Lower Hutt, a private hospital for infants needing plastic surgery for cleft palates,

hare lip A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The te ...

hypospadia Hypospadias is a common variation in fetal development of the penis in which the urethra does not open from its usual location in the head of the penis. It is the second-most common birth abnormality of the male reproductive system, affecting abou ...

s, syndactylism, burn scars and

birthmarks A birthmark is a congenital, benign irregularity on the skin which is present at birth or appears shortly after birth—usually in the first month. They can occur anywhere on the skin. Birthmarks are caused by overgrowth of blood vessels, melanoc ...

. Initially Bassam was run as a hostel with the surgery being done at Wellington Hospital, Calvary Hospital (now Wakefield Hospital) or Lewisham Hospital (later the Home of Compassion). By 1942 Bassam was a specialist hospital. Cecily performed all the procedures although people were then mistrustful of female surgeons. She was assisted by women anaesthetists Jessie Burnett, Claudia Shand and Dora Young. Care of infant patients at the Bassam was revolutionary at the time. Mothers roomed in with their infants and Pickerill developed the practice of the nurse-mother. Mothers would be responsible for all their child's daily needs except for surgery and changing dressings: making up formula, feeding, bathing, changing nappies (diapers), and taking babies outside. Pickerill was able to demonstrate that the nurse-mother was crucial in preventing infections as infants avoided cross-infections which occurred from being handled by multiple nurses or being kept in nurseries. The Pickerills also helped to set up the plastics unit at

Middlemore Hospital Middlemore Hospital is a major public hospital in the suburb of Otahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand. The hospital has approximately 800 beds. There are 24 operating theatres across two sites. History In 1943, during World War II, construction comme ...

, travelling to Auckland to work there at the weekends. William Manchester, another New Zealand plastic surgeon, was their registrar. She and her team retired in 1967. Bassam Hospital closed becoming Bloomfield Hospital where she died on 21 July 1988, aged 85.

Personal life

The Pickerills had one daughter, Margaret. In 1935 they purchased three acres of land at Silverstream in Upper Hutt and built a house, Beechdale. The garden was a showplace for rhododendrons and camellias.

Awards and honours

Pickerill became a member of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons (MBAPS) in 1949 and a life member of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Medical Women's Association in 1972–1973. She was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1958 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services in the field of plastic surgery. In the 1977 Queen's Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours, she was promoted to

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to medicine, especially in the field of plastic surgery.

Publications

* Pickerill, H. P. and Pickerill, C. M. (1945). "Early Treatment of Bell’s Palsy". ''British Medical Journal'', ''2'' (4422): 457–459. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.4422.457 * Pickerill, H. P. and Pickerill, C. M. (1945). "Elimination of Cross-infection". ''British Medical Journal'', ''1'' (4387): 159–160. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.1.4387.159 * Pickerill, H. P. and Pickerill, C. M. (1945). "Ectopia vesicae". ''The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery'', ''15:'' 91–98. * Pickerill, C. (1948). "Infant plastic surgery and mother nursing". ''New Zealand Medical Journal'' 47 (262): 618-623. * Pickerill, C. (1949). "Infant plastic surgery and mother nursing". ''British Journal of Plastic Surgery'', ''2'' (2): 116–124. * Pickerill, H.P. and C. Pickerill (1954). ''Speech training for cleft palate patients''. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs. 2nd ed.

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

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* Pickerill, C.M. and Pickerill, H. P. (1954). "Nursing by the mother and cross-infection". ''Lancet'' ''267'' (6838): 599–600. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(54)90382-7 * Pickerill, C.M. and Pickerill, H. P. (1954). "Elimination of hospital cross-infection in children: nursing by the mother". ''Lancet'', ''266'' (6809): 425–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(54)91137-x * Pickerill, C. (12 November 1955). "Infections in the newborn". ''BMJ'' 2 (4949): 1205.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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