Life Changing Surgery
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A picture of jennie smillie roberston
One surgeon is all it took to help make one of the most famous surgeries more known in todays world. One woman is all the world of exams, diagnosis and maybe even prescriptions needed. That one lady is Jennie Smillie Roberston. She has a very long name, but it’s recognized by a load of doctors. Brace yourself because this report with leave you in stitches.
Early Life
Roberston was born on February 10th, 1878, which was a long time ago from now. She was born in Hensall, Ontario to Benjamin and Jane Smillie as one of several children. She showed interest in medical science from a early age. She says in a later interview “ I was only three when I first thought about being a doctor, when I was 5, I asked my mother if women could be doctors. She told me they could and from then on, I knew it is what I wanted to do”.
College Career
She started her role as a kindergarten teacher before applying to the scalpel. Roberston did this to save for tuition for the Ontario Medical College for Women until 25. Before her second year in medical school in 1906, the college eventually merged with the University of Toronto’s Medical School. Some women felt hostility from their male peers. Roberston thought the women positively influenced the men to be better. She eventually ended up graduating in 1909. That’s when she knew it was going tibia okay.
Getting Started in the Medical Career
At this time period, medical internships were hard for women to obtain in Canada. To be a doctor, it took some real guts. No hospital would take her as a resident intern which forced her to move to USA to complete an internship at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The land of the founding fathers and the land of cuisine.
In 1910, she returned to Toronto to begin her practice but was not accepted by any doctor for surgical training which she thought was a sick joke. Thus, she went back to the founding fathers land of Philadelphia to do another six months of brutal training under another female surgeon. She did oversee a surgical ward, an experience which she credited with building her confidence.
Portrait of jennie smillie roberston in black and white
A photo of jennie and her colleagues infront of the hospital she created
The Legacy Created
She returned to the city of Drake once again, no hospital would allow her to perform any type of surgeries. Instead, she performed her first surgery to remove a tumour on a patient’s kitchen table. She told the patient “Urine good hands” but she was freaked out the entire time she stated. This made her the first surgeon to perform a major gynecological surgery in Canada. As a result, she was recorded as the country’s first female surgeon in the field’s modern era. Luckily she trusted her gut and became a success story.
In 1911, she and her other female colleagues reestablished the Ontario Medical College for Women as the Women’s college Hospital due to an increase in female patients wanting their services. This required a lot of patience from the doctors. The number of female physicians in Canada grew with the help of Roberston. She then helped founded “The Federation of Medical Women of Canada”. She once served as the president of the Women’s Liberal Association.
A PHOTO OF JENNIE SMILLIE ROBERSTON’S GRAVE
Even though her efforts costed her an arm and a leg, it paid off for the future of female doctors all around Canada. In 2022, 49.7% of family medicine physicians and 40.2% of specialist physicians were female which took many people’s breaths away. Without her, the female doctors wouldn’t beLung together. I am sorry for that joke. But in all seriousness, she ended up trying to help for a cure for amnesia and with all her efforts…. Sorry I don’t remember how this joke goes. Roberston must be a coronary artery because she will be wrapped around our hearts for life.
Hi I’m Zoe Farmer. I am a 20 year old, second year Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. I normally spend my time watching movies and listening to podcasts. I write horror stories mixed with a little sprinkle of romance. I want to direct and make my own stories into movies like James Cameron.
