Maude E. Callen Nurse & Midwife Callen moved to Pineville, South Carolina in 1923, where she
Maude E. Callen Nurse & Midwife Callen moved to Pineville, South Carolina in 1923, where she set up practice. She was one of only nine nurse-midwives, at the time, in the area. Callen operated a community clinic out of her home, miles from any hospital. She provided in-home services to “an area of some 400 square miles veined with muddy roads”, serving as ‘doctor, dietician, psychologist, bail-goer and friend’ to thousands of desperately poor patients.It is estimated she delivered between six hundred and eight hundred babies in her years of practice. In addition to providing medical services, Callen also taught women from the community to be midwives. In December 1951, Life magazine published a twelve-page photographic essay of Callen’s work, by the celebrated photojournalist, W. Eugene Smith. Smith spent weeks with Callen at her clinic and on her rounds. The photos were visually arresting, both as a haunting record of the time but also as ongoing testament to the power of nursing and midwifery to effect social change. -- source link
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