Lucy Bement

Lucy Permelia Bement (June 26, 1868 – October 30, 1940) was an American medical missionary who brought medical care to women of the district of Shaowu, China in the early twentieth century. During the time of Bement’s missionary work, cultural customs strictly forbade male providers from caring for female patients. Bement helped fill this need and saw an average of 46 patients per day, and on some days, more than 70 patients. According to some records, Bement saw an average of 20,000 patients annually.

Early life Lucy Permelia Bement was born in Dover Township (now called Westlake), Ohio and she, along with her sister Frances, attended a public primary school in West Dover, Ohio. The Bement sisters attended Sunday School in a small schoolhouse in the town and became members of the Second Congregational Church of Olmstead. Both sisters began high school in Elyria, Ohio in 1887.

Education After graduating from high school, Bement worked with the American Missionary Association and taught at Pine Mountain, Tennessee. She then went to Massachusetts to attend the Training School for Nurses in Newburyport in 1893. After this, she attended Baltimore Medical College and received her degree in 1897. After graduation, she joined the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Personal life Census reports indicate that Bement was never married and had no children. When she retired from her missionary work in China, she split her time between her hometown in Ohio and Los Angeles, California. Her favorite hobby was tending to her flower garden. She maintained this hobby her entire life, even while working in Shaowu. After the sisters arrived in Fuzhou, China, they traveled two hundred and fifty miles up the Min River to the inland station. Due to the large amount of supplies the boat was carrying, the journey took twenty-eight days. After leaving the river boat, the sisters walked and rode in sedan chairs until sunset when they reached Shaowu.

Shaowu was a dangerous place for the sisters to work; several tigers were killed within approximately five miles of where they were staying. Each morning she entered a waiting room filled with ill patients, some from as far as twenty or thirty miles away. This length of travel was not uncommon, as Dr. Bement served the largest geographical area in the mission. Dr. Bement treated a variety of illnesses, most commonly dysentery, fevers, open sores, indigestion, ulcers, and burns.

Bement often wrote letters home to request medical supplies. In 1914, the most urgent item needed was a medicine case.

Another obstacle to care was the unwillingness of the women to see the doctor more than once or twice. Bement described that in her experience, if a patient was improving she thought she would get well, and if she was not improving she thought that she might as well not come again. The girls had breakfast at seven-thirty, and the school opened with prayers at eight-thirty. This quiet time lasted until nine. The girls studied and recited psalms and Bible chapters. The average age of the students was fourteen.

In late November 1926, Frances gave a talk about her school in Shaowu to members of the W.B.M.I. During the talk, she called attention to her sister and how she was worn out. Frances said that there was little prospect of Bement ever returning to Shaowu. Bement lived out the rest of her days in the United States and died in October 1940.