30 Facts About Rebecca Parrish

Sarah Rebecca Parrish known as Dr Rebecca Parish, was an American medical missionary and physician in the Philippines.

Rebecca Parrish spent 27 years in the Philippines, becoming the first female doctor to practice in the country and greatly improving health in the area.

Rebecca Parrish is widely credited for being the driving force behind the Mary Johnston Hospital, which provided maternal care and services to impoverished people and for establishing the first nurses training institute in the country.

Rebecca Parrish was born to Jesse Mallow Rebecca Parrish and Mary Catherine Mitchell in 1869, raised as the eldest of nine children.

Rebecca Parrish was raised in a small frontier cabin on a farm in Logansport, Indiana.

Rebecca Parrish decided she wanted to be a missionary doctor at a young age after hearing stories from a missionary magazine called The Heathen Women's Friend.

Rebecca Parrish's plans were interrupted when her parents died, and she moved her family to Indianapolis to care for her siblings while attending school at Clinton County Normal School.

When Rebecca Parrish arrived in Manila she encountered a country reeling from the Philippine Revolution that ended three centuries of Roman Catholic rule under Spain.

The Methodist Episcopal Church had sent several medical missionaries and teachers, but Rebecca Parrish was the first female missionary physician, and became the first female doctor to practice in the Philippines.

Rebecca Parrish called her clinic the Dispensaria Betania or Bethany Dispensary and quickly acquired a small stock of drugs and medical tools.

Rebecca Parrish operated under the rule that no patient was ever turned away.

Rebecca Parrish made many house calls during her time at the clinic as an opportunity to follow up with her patients, as well as to tell them about Christianity.

Rebecca Parrish's work increased as more and more people traveled by foot, by horse and even by boat to visit the clinic.

Rebecca Parrish's work was made easier in 1911 when the first class of 6 Filipina women graduated from nurse's training.

Rebecca Parrish became devoted to her role as both a physician and a missionary, even writing an article asking for donations in the Michigan Christian Advocate.

Rebecca Parrish donated $12,500 to build the hospital, with the request that it be named after his wife.

Rebecca Parrish decided to build the hospital in Tondo, an impoverished district in western Manila.

Rebecca Parrish left the clinic to work at the new hospital, which specialized in maternity and child care and stood as the only Protestant hospital in the region.

Rebecca Parrish maintained high medical standards for the hospital and required all workers to be involved in the hospital's evangelistic program.

Rebecca Parrish held daily Bible lessons at the clinic and nightly prayer services at the hospital.

Rebecca Parrish's work became more than a hospital, but rather a fixture in the community, so much so that new generation of children came to be known as "Dr Parrish's children".

Rebecca Parrish was known to inspire former patients to return and volunteers to devote their lives to medical missionary work.

In 1950, at the age of 80 Rebecca Parrish was honored with a gold medal from the Civic Assembly of Women in Manila, awarded by the President Elpidio Quirino of the Republic of the Philippines, although she was unable to be in Manila at the time due to her failing health.

Rebecca Parrish was always regarded as the leading figure guiding the Mary Johnston Hospital, combining its medical duties with her religious mission.

Rebecca Parrish lectured on ethics, morals and religion in local high schools and universities; taught sociology for ten years; wrote a health page and health articles for newspapers.

Rebecca Parrish managed to learn Malayan, Chinese, Japanese and Hindi in addition to Filipino.

Rebecca Parrish wrote about her travels in her memoir, Orient Seas and Lands Afar.

In 1933, after 27 years in the Philippines Rebecca Parrish's health gave out and she was forced to return to the United States.

Rebecca Parrish continued to lecture about her mission work, as well as write articles and letters.

Rebecca Parrish died on August 23,1952, at the age of 82 in Indianapolis, Indiana.