Â鶹APP

First aid healthcare. Photo by GDJ – Pixabay

10 Best Facts about Virginia M. Alexander

Physicians have become legends in the midst of a worldwide epidemic, putting their lives in danger every day to help those in need. Physicians are more crucial today than ever before however, they have been sacrificially supporting others long before the coronavirus disperse. No one demonstrates the obligation of physicians to assist individuals in need better than Dr. Virginia Alexander. Alexander ran a treatment center from her home in Philadelphia in the 1930s, providing medical assistance to those who were excluded them elsewhere, even if patients couldn’t afford to pay. Her clinic was used to teach future doctors, and her honor is carried on today by women who share her goals and beliefs.

1.Virginia’s childhood upbringing and how she decided to be a doctor

Virginia M. Alexander was born on February 4, 1899, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Hilliard Alexander and Virginia Pace, both of whom were raised into the United States slave system. She had four siblings, one of whom was the well-known solicitor Raymond Pace Alexander. Alexander’s mother died when she was four years old, and her father’s cruising training institute closed when she was thirteen. Alexander dropped out of school to help alleviate the financial hardship on her family however, her father pushed her to complete her academic achievement.

2.With her father’s support in education, she was able to attend a very good college

Alexander attended Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Virginia Alexander joined the Medical College of Pennsylvania after graduating from college and finished her work placement at Kansas City General Hospital. Alexander moved back to North Philadelphia after becoming the first woman doctor in Missouri. Dr. Virginia Alexander established the Aspiranto Health Home in her own household in 1931. She looked after the most vulnerable population of the black community, which was the third-largest African American community in America at the time.

3.Alexander had an amazing opportunity in working in hospitals that treated black and white patience separately

A picture of a stereoscope. Photo by StockSnap – Pixabay

While chances for white women in medicine expanded in the late nineteenth century, those for African American individuals became severely scarce.  Despite the fact that blacks could achieve degrees in medicine, both black physicians and their patients were denied access to white health facilities.  As a result of this marginalization, over 200 black medical facilities were established in the United States by the 1930s.

The formation of more health facilities caused a schism between black institutions advocating for inclusivity and assimilation and black physicians who believed their only advantages were at African American establishments.   Virginia Alexander, an African American woman physician, collaborated in both black and white health facilities in Philadelphia however, her most essential work was undertaken at her private medical facility.

4.Virginia did a massive public health investigation in regards to her community

Dr. Alexander carried out a race and public health research in North Philadelphia in 1935. She discovered startling disparities in terms of health between Black and white locals. Per year, the tally of African American infants who died was far more than twice as many as Caucasian infants.

Tuberculosis was a pestilence in several towns at the time. The disease killed more than six times as many African American Philadelphians as Caucasian Philadelphians. Dr. Alexander also stated that African American patients were subjected to unequal treatment in health facilities. They spoke about being treated in isolated units, getting subpar treatment, or being denied healthcare entirely.

5.Dr. Alexander joined a church group while in campus that changed her perspective in life

As a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in 1917, Virginia Margaret Alexander joined her first religious service at Race Street Meeting. Gamble says,

The inspection was motivated by both accessibility and inquisitiveness. Virginia worked as a waitress close to the fellowship hall, and because she didn’t have the opportunity to go to the Zion Baptist [her childhood church in North Philadelphia], she and a black friend who attempted Race Street.

They were late and had no idea what to anticipate. Nonetheless, Virginia found heavenly interconnectivity and discovered that Quakerism fitted her spiritual demeanor from the very first session. She recounted feeling “an overpowering sense of fulfillment and being “reassured that this was glorification at its best.”

Virginia proceeded in going to Race Street and participating in different Quaker meetings and seminars after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in three years, until she moved to Kansas City in 1925 to finish her hospital apprenticeship because no Philadelphia healthcare facilities would accept her as a trainee.

6.Virginia’s medical degree did not come easy to her

Different medication. Photo by RemazteredStudio – Pixabay

To pay for her college tuition, she took up jobs such as a housekeeper, a cashier, a waitress, and any additional job that would cover her expenses. Alexander earned her medical degree as a high achiever, thanks to donations from local funders. After being admitted to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, she placed second on the medical intelligence test.

7.Dr. Alexander briefly worked for the US Public Health Service

In the years prior to World War II, the area of public health became increasingly popular and Alexander was among the first to obtain a Masters Degree in Public Health. Alexander was accepted to Yale University in 1936 to major in public health, and she graduated in 1937. She was offered a job as an assistant university doctor for female students at Howard University soon after graduating from Yale.

From 1943 to 1945, Alexander served for the US Public Health Service at the Slossfield Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. She then relocated to Philadelphia, where she continued her medical profession while also working on racial issues with local Colonists.

8.The racial inequality in the healthcare system was majorly impacted by Alexander to this day

Hospital medical services. Photo by ElasticComputeFarm – Pixabay

Dr. Alexander’s research demonstrated that these findings resulted from unjust social environments. Because of institutionalized racism, numerous African American individuals were prone to live in substandard slums. The local government very seldom provided sufficient sanitation facilities to African American neighborhoods. Illnesses such as TB distributed far more quickly in these scenarios.

Numerous Blacks were impoverished as a consequence of racial discrimination in the medical services, education, and work opportunities. The majority of Caucasian physicians and public health practitioners did not think about the effects of economic and social variables on wellness. Dr. Alexander was a member of a network of African American physicians, nurses, clergy, and ideologues who recognized racial injustice as a factor in health inequality.

9.Aside from all her medical achievements, Alexander was involved in quite a few activism programs

Alexander was involved in a number of community, highly qualified, and educational associations. She worked as a doctor at Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Nurses’ Training School, the Hospital of Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Convalescent Hospital.

Alexander became a Revolutionary for the first time in 1931. She would later use her role in Caucasian Revolutionary groups to advocate for better public health practices for Black patients.

Alexander was involved in her community by serving on the boards of Wharton Settlement, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Religious Society of Friends, where she was involved in the Race Relations Committee, the Institute of Race Relations, and the Young Friends Movement. As part of her participation with the Institute of Race Relations, she started official research on public health inequities for African American and Caucasian patients in Philadelphia in 1935.

10.With all her accomplishments she unfortunately died of a long battle with lupus

Alexander spent most of her life in North Philadelphia with her father. Alexander never married or had children however, she had an intimate sexual relationship with W.E.B. DuBois, who was an editor at The Crisis at that period and may have written the article in which she was highlighted in.

Alexander passed away on July 24, 1949, in Philadelphia, after fighting lupus for years. She was laid to rest at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.