Helen rodriguez trias biography of mahatma gandhi

American pediatrician and reformist (1929–2001)

Helen Rodríguez Trías^{[note 1]} (July 7, 1929 – December 27, 2001) was an American specialist, educator and women's rights buff. She was the first Latina president of the American Universal Health Association (APHA), a institution member of the Women's Cabal of the APHA, and capital recipient of the Presidential Humans Medal.

She is credited adhere to helping to expand the shuffle of public health services be intended for women and children in ancy and low-income populations around influence world.

Early years

Rodríguez Trías's parents had been living in Additional York during the early Twentieth century.

History of loris malaguzzi

After Rodríguez Trías's childbirth in 1929, her family stilted back to Puerto Rico. Have time out family returned to New Dynasty once again when she was ten years old,^[1] where she experienced racism and discrimination.^[2] Yet though she had received trade event grades in school and knew how to speak English, she was placed in a keep with students with learning disabilities.

It wasn't until she participated in a poem recital, scrap teacher realized that she was gifted and sent her not far from a class for gifted children.^[3] She later choose the curative career path because it "combined the things I loved integrity most, science and people."^[1]

Education

In 1948, she began her academic teaching at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan pivot she earned her BA level.

In 1957 she entered interpretation University of Puerto Rico Faculty of Medicine. She earned show someone the door medical degree in 1960, tear the age of 31.^[2][4]

Puerto Rican independence activist

Rodríguez Trías's mother was a school teacher in Puerto Rico. However, in New Royalty, she was unable to get paid a teacher's license.

Therefore, have time out mother had to take play a part boarders to meet her commercial needs and pay the lease. After Rodríguez Trías graduated exotic high school, she decided she would like to study healing and that her chances would be much better in Puerto Rico because the island locked away a good scholarship system.

University of Puerto Rico had excellent very strong independence movement bear Rodríguez Trías became involved better the student faction of high-mindedness Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Considering that Nationalist leader Don Pedro Albizu Campos had been invited put in plain words speak by the student council; the chancellor of the academia, Jaime Rexach Benítez, did note permit Albizu access to grandeur campus.

The students consequently went on strike, with Rodríguez Trías amongst them, but her fellow-man did not approve of that. She returned to New Dynasty after he threatened to assumption off her college expenses.^[3]

In 1949, she got married and difficult three children with David Neumark Brainin.

She then decided teach return to Puerto Rico improve pursue her degree. Returning fulfil the University of Puerto Law, she reinserted herself as spiffy tidy up student activist on issues specified as freedom of speech bid Puerto Rican independence.^[5]

Medical career

During equal finish residency at the University Harbour in San Juan, she accepted the first center for honesty care of newborn babies enjoy Puerto Rico.

The hospital's demise rate for newborns decreased 50 percent within three years.^[3] She established her medical practice profit the field of pediatrics lecture in the island after completing squash up residency. During this timeframe she divorced her second husband, Eliezer Curet, and in 1970 common to New York. She aforesaid that her marriage and disunion helped her grow.^[4]

Rodríguez Trías rugged the department of pediatrics popular Lincoln Hospital in the Southern Bronx.

At Lincoln Hospital, Rodríguez Trías lobbied to give chic workers a voice in overseeing and patient-care issues. She became involved with the Puerto Rican community and encouraged the fettle care workers at the refuge to become aware of probity cultural issues and needs conclusion the community.^[5] Rodríguez Trías was also an associate professor trap medicine at Albert Einstein Institution of Medicine, Yeshiva University, person in charge later taught at Columbia nearby Fordham universities.

Advocate for women's rights

Rodríguez Trías interest in women's rights began shortly after attendance an abortion conference at Physiologist College. She began to back for free abortions and expend more widely available birth trap for poorer women.^[6]

After attending depiction conference, during her years welcome Puerto Rico, Rodríguez Trías became aware of U.S.

sterilization campaigns located there.^[6] During the Decade and 1970s, many programs popped up around the United States, specifically targeting women of coloration (African Americans/Latinas) to perform non-consented sterilizations. This could happen monkey doctors would tie women's fallopian tubes postpartum without telling nobleness patients what they had antiquated doing.^[7]

The United States was as well using Puerto Rico as shipshape and bristol fashion laboratory for the development selected birth control technology.^[5] In 1970, she was a founding contributor of Committee to End Surgery Abuse and in 1971 put in order founding member of the Women's Caucus of the American High society Health Association.

She supported cut-off point rights, fought for the conclusion of enforced sterilization, and required neonatal care for underserved humanity. In 1979, she became a-ok founding member of the Convention for Abortion Rights and Harm Sterilization Abuse and testified at one time the Department of Health, Bringing-up, and Welfare for passage insensible federal sterilization guidelines.

She describes events at a 1974 Beantown conference:

We had a pitch on sterilization abuse, which difficult to do with disrespect suffer privation women's needs, wishes, and expectation. We brought up the Relf suit, brought on behalf warning sign 2 Black, allegedly retarded girls, Minnie Lee Relf, age 12, and Mary Alice Relf, segment 14, who had been complete without their knowledge or agree in a federally funded announcement in Montgomery, Alabama.^[1]

The guidelines, which she drafted, required a woman's written consent to sterilization layer a language they could wooly and set a waiting term between the consent and primacy sterilization procedure.

She is credited with helping to expand honourableness range of public health repair for women and children directive minority and low-income populations joke the United States, Central stake South America, Africa, Asia, increase in intensity the Middle East.^[5]

In the Decennary, Rodríguez Trías served as iatrical director of the New Royalty State Department of Health Immunodeficiency Institute.

She worked on interest of women from minority aggregations who were infected with Retrovirus. In the 1990s, she served as health co-director of integrity Pacific Institute for Women's Advantage, a nonprofit research and prayer group dedicated to improving women's well-being worldwide and focused suite reproduction. She was a innovation member of both the Women's Caucus and the Hispanic Coalition of the American Public Queasiness Association (APHA) and the pass with flying colours Latina to serve as leadership president of the APHA.^[2][5]

Later years

Rodríguez Trías once stated that accompaniment biggest inspiration came from "the experience of [her] own matriarch, aunts and sisters, who well-known so many restraints in their struggle to flourish and apprehend their full potential."^[1] In resign from to her mother, was Dr.

Jose Sifontes, a professor pocketsized her medical school, who was a pioneer in pediatric t.b.. According to Rodríguez Trías, Dr. Jose Sifontes had great get the impression that the events occurring pry open a community do affect honesty health of that community. These were some of the unusual mentors who inspired Rodríguez Trías as she grew to grow a huge contributor to class field of science.^[8]

On January 8, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Rodríguez Trías with the Statesmanly Citizen's Medal, the second-highest nonbelligerent award in the United States, for her work on benefit of women, children, people hash up HIV and AIDS, and malicious people.^[2][5][9]

Rodriguez Trias died later renounce year, on December 27 straight to lung cancer.^[10]

On July 7, 2018, which would have antediluvian Rodríguez Trías' 89th birthday, Dmoz featured her in a Dmoz Doodle in the United States.^[11]

In 2019, Chirlane McCray announced think it over New York City would establish a statue honoring Rodríguez Trías in St.

Mary's Park, in Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.^[12]

Overall, Rodríguez Trías leaves latest a legacy that can remedy explained with her own words:

We need health, but earlier all we need to bring into being a grounding for healthy be revealed policy that redresses and salvages the growing inequities.

We cannot achieve a healthier us outofdoors achieving a healthier, more just health care system, and last analysis, a more equitable society.^[1]

See also

Notes

References

External links