Leila Yates (1899-1996) was a pioneering

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

and

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

from the Cayman Islands. She has been recognized on a stamp in the 2011 series "Pioneers in our History" and in 2015 was posthumously honored with the National Heroes Award. Her home has been the focus of a restoration project for the National Trust’s West Bay Committee.

Early life

Irksie Leila Yates was born on 19 August 1899 in the West Bay District on

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

to Jacintha (née Morrison) and Arthur Yates. Yates was the youngest of six children and though she enjoyed playing on the beaches as a child, was

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

tic. Hers was the first house on the island to have glass panes installed. Encouraged by her sister, Yates wanted to study nursing, but her mother objected. Determined to become a nurse, she walked daily from West Bay to George Town for her training. Her initial studies began in 1917 with Dr. George Overton, the only doctor on the island.

Career

By 1919, Yates had completed her training and began as a

home care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing ho ...

nurse, traveling to her patients' homes to assist with their needs. In 1921, she began studying

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...

and completed her training in 1923, when she delivered her first baby. During the

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

epidemic in 1931, Yates served as head government nurse. Because there was no government hospital, almost all of her care services before 1952 when the Cayman Hospital was built, were provided in her patient's homes. In 1959 Yates opened a private nursing clinic in her home in West Bay and continued to see patients in her home or their own homes. In her later years, she worked as a reporter writing a regular column "This Week in West Bay" for the newspaper, ''Caymanian Weekly''. Yates retired in 1971, having delivered more than 1,000 babies.

Death and legacy

Yates died on 12 January 1996. In 2006, her home was purchased by the National Trust of the Cayman Islands to honor her achievements in nursing and preserve the culturally significant building, as the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

's only original

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

dwelling. In 2011, Yates was recognized with a stamp depicting her likeness as a part of the series "Pioneers in our History". In 2015 she was honored at the National Heroes Awards ceremony, recognizing Caymanians who helped to develop health services for the Islands. In 2016, her columns from the 1966 ''Caymanian Weekly'' are being re-run in the ''Cayman Compass'' as a weekly series called "50 years ago".

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Irksie Leila 1899 births 1996 deaths People from Grand Cayman Caymanian nurses Caymanian midwives National Heroes of the Cayman Islands