Joan Ford (November 4, 1925October 31, 2021) was a British-born Canadian doctor who was the first woman physician at the
Royal Columbian Hospital
Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) is the oldest hospital in British Columbia and one of the busiest in the Fraser Health Authority. It is located in New Westminster overlooking the Fraser River and is the only hospital in the Lower Mainland that is ...
in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. She spent part of her career in Nepal serving the local
Sherpa Sherpa may refer to:
Ethnography
* Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal
* Sherpa language
Organizations and companies
* Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility
* ...
population.
Early life
Ford was born in
Newcastle-under-Lyme in England on November 4, 1925, to Margaret Jessie (née Coghill) and Ronald Mylne Ford. Her mother was a magistrate; her father was a lawyer who served as mayor of Newcastle. She was the third among four siblings;
her brother
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
was a diplomat who served as
British High Commissioner to Canada
The high commissioner of the United Kingdom to Canada is the United Kingdom's foremost Diplomat, diplomatic representative in Canada and is in charge of the British High Commission, Ottawa, British diplomatic mission to Canada.
As fellow members ...
between 1978 and 1981.
She graduated from medical school at
Sheffield University
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
in 1948.
Career
Ford started her career in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, where she was the first woman to work as a physician at the
Royal Columbian Hospital
Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) is the oldest hospital in British Columbia and one of the busiest in the Fraser Health Authority. It is located in New Westminster overlooking the Fraser River and is the only hospital in the Lower Mainland that is ...
, and was the president of the
Medical Women of Canada. She was also noted to have driven a campaign for equal pay for women doctors.
During this time she was a
locum
A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...
in remote parts of British Columbia including the coastal community of
Bella Coola, and she later went to
Dominica in the Caribbean. She retired in
Dease Lake
Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located a few hours south of the Yukon border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake ...
, at the boundary between
Yukon
Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
and British Columbia.
">Kunde Hospital
Ford's association with the Sherpas stemmed from a 1979 conversation with the New Zealand mountaineer
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reache ...
who was the first to ascend
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
with his climbing partner
Tenzing Norgay
Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the su ...
. Based on the conversation, Ford took up an offer to serve at the hospital that Hillary had set up in the Himalayas in
Kunde, Nepal
Kunde ( ne, कुण्डे) is a village in the Khumbu region of Nepal within the Sagarmatha National Park. It is directly adjacent to Khumjung village in the valley at the foot of Khumbu Yül-Lha, the sacred mountain of the Sherpas. The Kh ...
. The hospital is at an altitude of over and is amongst the highest hospitals in the world.
Ford used the opportunity to take a break at age 55 from her doctoral duties in British Columbia, moving to a village in Nepal, treating Sherpas in the mountainous region.
She started out serving a locum for six weeks to provide coverage for resident doctors, but returned to do more than five locums over the next ten years. When weather conditions grounded flights, she had to trek over multiple mountain passes to reach the hospital.
The hospital brought birth control and immunisation to the region, and it also ended disease caused by lack of iodine which was endemic.
[ She would recall the brief given to her by Hillary to get to the Himalayas, "He told me to take my Adidas runners, a stethoscope and an umbrella."] Operating in the Himalayas, Ford respected the traditional healing methods of the Sherpas, including Buddhist practices. The Kunde hospital is now staffed by local doctors including one who was born at the hospital in 1983.
For the work she had done with the Sherpas, Ford was appointed a member of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
in 1991. She also received the David M. Bachop Gold Medal for distinguished medical service from the BC Medical Association
Doctors of BC, formally known as the British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA), is a professional organization that represents 14,000 physicians, medical residents and medical students in the province of British Columbia. Its goals are to prom ...
in 1991. Her work was made into a documentary ''She Makes Mountain Calls'' by filmmaker Beverley Reid.
Personal life
Ford was a mountaineer herself, hiking along British Columbia's coastal range. She was a member of BC's Mountain Rescue Group, which later became the North Shore Rescue
North Shore Rescue is a non-profit organization dedicated to wilderness search and rescue around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It consists of a team of approximately 40 volunteers who perform an average of 79 search and rescue operations e ...
group looking to rescue stranded hikers in British Columbia.
Ford died on October 31, 2021, in a medically assisted death. She was aged 95.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Joan
1925 births
2021 deaths
Members of the Order of Canada
English emigrants to Canada
People from Newcastle-under-Lyme