As a woman in the early 1900s, Kate Pelham Newcomb fought to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor. As a physician in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, she sometimes had to fight to reach her patients, traveling by snowshoes and canoe. She is known for her contributions to public health in rural Wisconsin, including delivering over 4,000 babies and building a hospital.
Copy and Paste the Following Code to Embed this Video:
Kate Pelham Newcomb: Doctor of the Northwoods
[lively string music] [wind whistling] – Narrator: Kate Pelham dreamt of being a doctor.
She faced many challenges, and these trials inspired her to go to medical school, but her father refused to let her.
So instead, she went to college and became a teacher in Buffalo, New York.
Two years later, her stepmother died, so she moved to Boston to manage her father’s estate.
Kate was miserable hosting parties and dressing prim and proper.
Finally, her father agreed to send her to medical school.
After Kate graduated from college, she moved to Detroit and opened a medical clinic.
That’s where she met Bill Newcomb.
Kate and Bill fell in love and got married.
Sadly, the polluted air in Detroit was making Bill very sick.
They moved back to Bill’s childhood home in northern Wisconsin.
Life was much harder in the Northwoods.
18 miles from town, no electricity, no running water, and no furnace.
Lots of wood chopping.
But she and Bill were happy living in their cabin in the woods.
When their first baby died because of another doctor’s mistake, Kate turned her back on medicine.
For the next nine years, she didn’t give it another thought.
Kate and Bill had another baby.
When Tommy was 3, he smooshed his finger.
[Tommy groans] Kate’s expert bandage work impressed the doctor.
That winter, Dr. Torpy needed to rely on Kate’s medical skills.
During a terrible storm, he called Kate and demanded she go save a woman who was dying of pneumonia.
[bell dings] [upbeat guitar music] Kate saved her life and went to work.
Dr. Kate was back.
Nothing, not even sinking her canoe, stopped Dr. Kate when someone needed help.
Dr. Kate saved thousands of lives every year.
She became the community’s health officer, helped clean up the water supply, got dairies to sanitize milk bottles, and set standards of vaccination in Wisconsin and nationwide.
Still, there was more that she wanted to do for her town.
The nearest hospital was over two hours away.
Dr. Kate decided to build a hospital.
After saving the life of a wealthy tourist, Dr. Kate was given $1,000 to get started.
Construction began, then stopped, then started and stopped again as money came and went.
Building a hospital cost a lot of money, about a million pennies’ worth.
Well, not exactly, but a group of students had the idea to fundraise for Dr. Kate by organizing a million-penny parade.
Over 60,000 donations were made, but Kate still needed more.
[coins clinking] So her friends surprised Kate by getting her on a TV show called This Is Your Life, broadcasting her cause nationwide.
After that, money piled in.
The post office needed reinforcements to carry it all in the mail.
Pennies covered the entire gym floor, and the hospital was finished in 1954.
At 71 years of age, Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb passed away.
Kate’s determination to be a doctor had changed people’s lives for the better.
She delivered over 3,000 babies, built a hospital, saved thousands of lives, and inspired a generation with her kindness and devotion.
Passport
Follow Us