Rebecca Parrish

Sarah Rebecca Parrish (November 1, 1869 – August 22, 1952) known as Dr. Rebecca Parish, was an American medical missionary and physician in the Philippines.

Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Parrish attended the Medical College of Indiana. After working as an assistant physician, she joined the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church which sent her to work in Manila, Philippines. She spent 27 years in the Philippines, becoming the first female doctor to practice in the country and greatly improving health in the area. She is widely credited for being the driving force behind the Mary Johnston Hospital, which provided maternal care and services to impoverished people and for establishing the first nurses training institute in the country.

Early life: 1869–1906

Parrish was born to Jesse Mallow Parrish and Mary Catherine Mitchell in 1869, was the third of 12 children. She was raised in a small frontier cabin on a farm in Logansport, Indiana. A very religious family, The Parrishes would attend the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. As a child she was described as "earnest, thoughtful, always solicitous and serious". She decided she wanted to be a missionary doctor at a young age after hearing stories from a missionary magazine called The Heathen Women's Friend. Her plans were interrupted when her parents died, and she moved her family to Indianapolis to care for her siblings while attending school at Clinton County Normal School.

After graduating she started teaching at grammar schools in order to support her eight siblings. After attending Chicago Training School for one year, she decided to enroll in medical school at the Medical College of Indiana. Despite suffering frequent illnesses due to stress and overwork she graduated fourth in her class of 47 students in 1901. After interning at Wesley Hospital for a year she applied to be a missionary physician but she was denied because of her ill health, so instead, she worked as an assistant physician at North Indiana Hospital for the Insane from 1902 to 1906. In 1906 when she was in the hospital recovering from another illness, she received a letter from the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church informing her that she was appointed to work in Manila, Philippines, to which she immediately agreed.

Missionary career: 1906-1933

Arrival in Manila

When Parrish arrived in Manila she encountered a country reeling from the Philippine Revolution that ended three centuries of Roman Catholic rule under Spain. She arrived immediately following the Philippine–American War, during which the United States fought from 1899 to 1902 to suppress the nationalist forces of Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than American occupation. During this time United States forces burned villages, tortured suspected guerrillas, and employed civilian reconstruction policies that were seen as imperialist. The conflict resulted in widespread violence, famine and disease, as well as prevalent hatred for the American government. The country was suffering from a lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, and proper nutrition.

Health care in the Philippines was still in the early stages of development, although was starting to improve thanks to the efforts by Taft Commission to promote development and prepare the Philippines for eventual independence. (Country Studies 29, 37) The area subsequently became a hub for religious and medical missions. However, many people were distrustful of hospitals because of local religious beliefs and practices.

Dispensaria Betania: 1906-1908

Within two months she started seeing patients in a small free dispensary in December 1906. When it first opened, the dispensary had only "a few drugs, an enameled bowl, a pitcher with most of the enamel peeled off, and chair with one leg awry." The dispensary was located inside of the Harris Memorial Training School (now known as Memorial College) in Santa Cruz, a neighborhood in the northern part of Manila. The Mary Johnston Hospital was quickly transformed from a women's and children's hospital into an emergency hospital where patients who were injured during air raids could be treated. Many other hospitals in the city were destroyed or taken over, so Mary Johnston experienced an influx of patients while simultaneously seeing a reduction in many of its sources of income. Many of the personnel worked without pay in order to keep it running.

The hospital was destroyed again in a fire on February 5, 1945, when the Japanese finally retreated from the Philippines. Five years later the hospital reopened, thanks to generous gifts from American donors, one individual donation was approximately $28,000.

As part of the hospital's community outreach, it adopts neighborhood communities to focus on livelihood education, health, cleanliness and Christian education. It also provides a milk-feeding program and conducts semimonthly clinics to administer immunization shots.

Personal life

Beliefs

Parrish was always regarded as the leading figure guiding the Mary Johnston Hospital, combining its medical duties with her religious mission. A Born Missionary Recounts "…she saw to it that the hospital and its environs maintained a high moral standard in a district not noted for propriety. No money raised through bridge-teas, dancing, or theatricals was accepted as a contribution to the hospital. She lectured on ethics, morals and religion in local high schools and universities; taught sociology for ten years; wrote a health page and health articles for newspapers. Often she found herself being interviews by young people for advice, even marital counseling." She was also noted for her activism, campaigning against the practice of white slavery and the mistreatment of lepers. She devoted herself to women's issues in Manila as well, she recounts encountering sexism upon her initial arrival "They asked me point blank, "Can a woman know enough to be a doctor?" and I, as frankly, answered "yes". All were curious. But, thro 27 years, I was to prove it...and DID a million times." This determination led her to establish the Philippines' first Woman's Club, which later expanded to 800 clubs and was incorporated into the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

Travels

When she would go back to the United States, she would often travel through Asia, making three complete trips around the world. She managed to learn Malayan, Chinese, Japanese and Hindi in addition to Filipino. She wrote about her travels in her memoir, Orient Seas and Lands Afar.

Return to the United States

In 1933, after 27 years in the Philippines Parrish's health gave out and she was forced to return to the United States. But by the time she left, her hospital had expanded to include 500 Filipino nurses and had reduced the infant mortality rate from 66% to 8%. She continued to lecture about her mission work, as well as write articles and letters. She detailed her experiences in a memoir titled Orient Seas and Lands Afar. Although Parrish longed to visit the hospital once more, her anemia prevented her from traveling and in 1952 she died in her sleep before she was able to return. She died on August 23, 1952, at the age of 82 in Indianapolis, Indiana.