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Women and Health Care Women's History

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Women and Health Care
Print Women and Health Care Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 7 to 9
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.41

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		midwife, wounded, wartime, founded, unofficial, occupation, maternity, regulate, widespread, beginning, provided, organization, pediatrician, vote, progress, fully
	content words:		Revolutionary War, Civil War, Clara Barton, United States, Red Cross, American Medical Association, Elizabeth Blackwell, Medical College, New York, Melinda Ann Richards

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Women and Health Care By Sharon Fabian

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¹     In Colonial times, women provided health care for their families and neighbors. Doctors were often not available. At that time, they could not cure many of the illnesses that we often go to a doctor for today. So women usually cared for the sick in their homes. Women did the work of both nurses and midwives, caring for people when they were sick and delivering babies.
 
²     Women also provided valuable medical services in the wars that our country was involved in. Women cared for wounded soldiers in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Their wartime work was the real beginning of modern nursing practices. Doctors became more accepting of the work done by nurses after seeing the skill that they used to treat wounded soldiers. Training for nurses became more readily available after the Civil War. One famous Civil War nurse was Clara Barton. She became famous not only for treating victims of the war, but also for persuading the United States to join the Red Cross. The Red Cross is an organization that helps victims of wars around the world.
 
³     By the middle of the 1800s, hospitals were being built to treat the sick and injured. The American Medical Association was also formed to regulate medical care. Medical schools trained doctors in modern medical practices. As hospitals became more widespread, the role of women in medicine declined for a while. At first medical schools were only for men. Then people began to look down on female nurses and midwives who did not have medical schooling. Many people preferred to be treated by a male doctor in a hospital.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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Women's History

Women's History

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United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

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United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

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50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

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