-
There were a lot of missionary organizations in Europe and the USA to disseminate Christianity. Established in 27 June, 1810 in Boston, American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was one of those organizations. As one of the most important Protestant missionary organizations in the USA, they sent missionaries to China, India, South America, Africa and Middle East, where Christianity emerged, to achieve their goals. American Board began their activities in Ottoman lands in 1820. Two missionaries named Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons, who were members of ABCFM, set out from Boston in November, 1819 and arrived in İzmir 15 January, 1820. Missionaries made use of particularly religious activities as well as education, media and healthcare activities to reach their target group. Realizing that healthcare activities were effective in establishing relations with people, Amer-ican Board began to dispatch healthcare professionals to their missionary centers abroad. John Scudder was the first medical missionary to be sent by American Board to foreign country, India, in 1919. Although it is known that several medical doctors went to various regions as missionary, they didn’t employ their missionary title and medical knowledge. Medical mis-sionary was accepted by Bible disseminators as the most significant method to reach all parts of society. American Board began to send medical missionaries for healthcare activities to Ottoman lands 13 years after sending first missionaries to the region. Medical missionaries were trained in both religion and medicine. First medical missionaries served as mobile doctors. As of 1880s, American Board started institutionalization by opening hospital, medicine school, nursing class and pharmacies in Antep, Mardin, Talas, Merzifon, Van, Erzurum, Sivas, Adana, Konya, Diyarbakır and İstanbul. Born in Antep in 1872, Dr. Jesse K. Marden completed his education in medicine in the USA in 1898, immediately started his medical missionary activities in Adana and continued until moving to Merzifon. The missionaries maintained their healthcare activities until a hospital was established around a clinic. Adana American Hospital was supposed to be founded in November 1909, when Armenian events took place. Greek neighbourhood in Adana was cho-sen to open the hospital. Though not constructed as hospital, rooms of a building of mission-ary were transformed into wards and nurse rooms. The hospital declared that they were open to the people of all ethnicities and beliefs in Adana in 1909. Adana American Hospital was founded in November 1909 when Armenian events took place and there was a depressed situ-ation. It is stated in a report by Dr. Ciryl H. Haas that the hospital served uninterruptedly be-tween 20 April 1910 and 17 April 1934. It is also indicated in missionary sources that opening of the hospital was supported by the government and all classes. Healthcare activities in Adana American Hospital gained momentum along with Dr. Cyril H. Haas, who came to Adana in May, 1911. Dr. Haas kept on his medical work in Adana until 1951. It is stated in a report in 1912 that one American and one Armenian doctor, 4 American and 4 Armenian nurses and 4 assistants were employed at the hospital. According to the re-port, the number of inpatients was 309, 241 of whom were Armenian, 46 were Turkish, 7 were Greek, 4 were Assyrian and 6 were of other ethnicities. It is stated that Dr. Haas, who could make use of his doctoral skills successfully in human relations, was family doctor of Adana governor and thus were able to get protection when necessary. Men and women were treated at the hospital with 34 beds. There was also a Nurs-ing Class in the hospital. Adana missionary hospital was attempted to be closed because of lack of authorization; however, it kept on its service until 1934. Although acute inpatient wards of the hospital were closed in 1934, Dr. Ciryl H. Haas continued his medical activities in a clinic in Adana until 1951. In this study, activities of American hospital which was founded by American Board between 1909-1934 are considered in terms of missionary activities and medical history. Also annual activities, periodicals, microfilms, hospital catalogues of American Board was used with his-tory research method.
Other ID | JA46HS46NK |
---|---|
Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 1, 2018 |
Submission Date | January 1, 2018 |
Published in Issue | Year 2018 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Periodical scientific publication of Mersin University School of Medicine. Can not be cited without reference. Responsibility of the articles belong to the authors
Ayşegül Tuğuz
from composition of İlter Uzel named “Dioscorides and his Student
Address
Mersin Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Tıp Tarihi ve Etik Anabilim Dalı Çiftlikköy Kampüsü
Yenişehir / Mersin