- Kimberley Guillemet
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in Christiana, Delaware in 1831 to Matilda Webber and Absolum Davis. She was raised in Pennsylvania by her aunt who acted as the doctor in her community, caring for community members who fell ill. Inspired by her aunt, in 1852, Dr. Crumpler moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse for eight years.
In 1860, she was accepted to New England Female Medical College. When she graduated from medical school in 1864, Dr. Crumpler became the first African-American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, and the only African-American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College, which closed in 1873.
Dr. Crumpler practiced medicine in Boston until 1865, when the Civil War ended. She then moved to Richmond, Virginia, because, in her own words, she felt it would be "a proper field for real missionary work, and one that would present ample opportunities to become acquainted with the diseases of women and children.” There she served the 30,000 African-American residents of her community, many of whom were indigent. She provided medical care to anyone who requested treatment, regardless of their ability to pay for her services. Dr. Crumpler also worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau, joining other Black physicians caring for freed slaves who would otherwise have had no access to medical care. As a Black physician, she experienced intense racism working in the postwar South.
Dr. Crumpler also experienced intense sexism, as during this time many men believed that a man's brain was 10 percent larger than a woman’s brain on average, and that a woman's job was to act submissively and focus on her appearance. Because of this, many male physicians did not respect Dr. Crumpler, and would not approve her prescriptions for patients or listen to her medical opinions. Undeterred by this unjust treatment, Dr. Crumpler persevered and continued to work passionately and with dedication.
Dr. Crumpler later moved back to Boston to continue to treat women and children. In 1883, she published a renowned book, Book of Medical Discourses In Two Parts, believed by many to be the first medical text written by an African-American author. The book has two parts that cover the prevention and cure of infantile bowel complaints, and the life and growth of human beings. Dedicated to nurses and mothers, it focuses on maternal and pediatric medical care.
Dr. Crumpler died in 1895, leaving behind a grieving husband, Arthur Crumpler (who died in 1910), and a daughter. Initially buried in unmarked graves, on July 16, 2020, Dr. Crumpler and her husband received new granite headstones through funds raised to celebrate her status as a pioneer in the medical field.
Shortly before her death the Boston Globe wrote the following about her, “Dr. Rebecca Crumpler is the one woman who, as a physician, made an enviable place for herself in the ranks of the medical fraternity.”
The Rebecca Lee Society, one of the first medical societies for African-American women, was named in her honor. In 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared March 30 (National Doctors Day) the Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Day. At Syracuse University there is a pre-health club named "The Rebecca Lee Pre-Health Society.” This club encourages people of diverse backgrounds to pursue health professions.
To learn more about Dr. Crumpler’s tremendous life and legacy, please visit: https://www.baystatebanner.com/2012/09/05/dr-crumpler-nations-first-african-american-woman-physician/, https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/news/g4431/black-history-month-unsung-heroes/, https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_73.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Lee_Crumpler.
- Kimberley Guillemet
- Kimberley Baker Guillemet
COVID-19.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus discovered in 2019. The virus spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. To date, it has infected over 288 million people.
For me, COVID-19 signifies more than a virus that has swept the world. It reflects a demand for flexibility and nimbleness. Essentially, it has forced me to embrace surrender.
I’ve always prided myself on being organized and having things planned out. This approach to life has helped me ever since I was a young child. Planning always gave me a sense of control when things around me felt out of control.
COVID-19 has forced me to confront within myself my desire for control and ask myself the question: how will you respond when you have absolutely no control over various factors in your life?
It has caused the following questions to emerge over seemingly mundane events such as:
● When will my children return to school?
● How many colleagues will be present at work today to help me accomplish a task?
● Will my daughter’s soccer season be canceled?
● Will my mother be safe attending church?
● Can our family safely gather at our house for Christmas dinner?
These are questions that would not have weighed on me in 2019, yet here we are, at the top of 2022, and they are very real concerns.
We are fortunate that we now have a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as a pill that promises to shorten the length and severity of the virus. Both of these pharmaceutical advancements bring with them a renewed hope for a return to some semblance of normalcy. I’m grateful that we live in a time and space in which we have access to vaccination, medication and different therapeutic options. However, with the Omicron mutation of the virus, and with whatever iterations and mutations of the virus that will emerge in the future, comes further uncertainty. One thing that this pandemic has taught me is that we cannot hang our hope on well-meaning promises. The reality is that we just don’t know. So where do we get our help? How do we proceed when we just don’t know what lies ahead?
Here’s the reality: we have never known what the future will bring. We have lied to ourselves and lulled ourselves into a comfortable mental space where we’ve believed that we knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next and from one from one day to the next. And for many of us, prior to the emergence of COVID-19, we probably were able to make plans and see them actually come to fruition with some regularity. But COVID-19 has reminded us of the truth that we have never known what lies ahead, nor have we had much control over it.
I am choosing to receive that reminder with gratitude and embrace the surrender. That does not mean I have stopped making plans, setting goals or working toward achievements. I will continue to strive to be my best self and set goals that I believe are worthwhile and meaningful. However, when things go awry or do not turn out in the way that I expect or hope, I am learning to surrender and pivot. There is always a blessing that we could not have foreseen when we experience what we did not expect.
As we begin 2022, full of hope for what the next 365 days will hold, I challenge all of us to anchor our hope not in what we think we know or hope will happen, but in the mindset we intend to use when we respond to the unexpected.
Embrace the surrender.
- Kimberley Guillemet
Dr. Ellen Lauri Ochoa was born on May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, California to Joseph, a manager of a retail store, and Rosanne, a homemaker. Her paternal grandparents immigrated from Sonora, Mexico to Arizona and later to California where her father was born. Dr. Ochoa was the middle child of five.
Dr. Ochoa graduated from Grossmont High School in El Cajon in 1975. She received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980. She went on to Stanford University where she earned a master of science degree and a doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 1981 and 1985, respectively.
In 1985, Dr. Ochoa applied for the NASA Astronaut Training Program. Although she was rejected, she decided to get a pilot’s license. She was certain she would enjoy flying and believed it might help build her resume for NASA. She applied again in 1987, but was once more turned down.
Undeterred, Dr. Ochoa joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at Ames Research Center and moved to Johnson Space Center. Finally, in 1990, on her third application to the NASA Astronaut Training Program, she was accepted.
In 1993, Dr. Ochoa became the first Latina woman to go to space when she served on the STS-56, a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. A mission specialist and flight engineer, she has flown in space four times. She served as payload commander on STS-66, and was mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-96 and STS-110 in 2002. Dr. Ochoa was in Mission Control during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and was one of the first personnel informed of Columbia's disintegration.
Beginning in 2007, after retiring from spacecraft operations, Dr. Ochoa served as Deputy Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, helping to manage and direct the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations. On January 1, 2013, Dr. Ochoa became the first Latinx person and second female director of the Johnson Space Center.
Ochoa has received many awards among which are NASA's Distinguished Service Medal (2015), Exceptional Service Medal (1997), Outstanding Leadership Medal (1995) and Space Flight Medals (2002, 1999, 1994, 1993). In 2017, she was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, and in 2018, she was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame.
Ochoa is also a classical flutist and played with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, once receiving the Student Soloist Award. She lives in Texas with her family.
To read more about Dr. Ochoa’s tremendous life and legacy, please visit:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Ochoa, https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/about/people/orgs/bios/ochoa.html, and https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/astronaut/ellen-ochoa.
Footage of Dr. Ochoa can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G40G1q1I7u8.
