Two remarkable sisters, Alice Berry Graham and Katherine Berry Richardson, one a dentist and one a surgeon, founded Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City in 1897. They brought to the task an indefatigable dedication to the plight of poor sick children that transformed the community forever. Along the way they founded a nursing school, worked around segregation to train African-American physicians and nurses in pediatrics, faced constant financial ruin and yet, managed to become the social conscience of the city. Their work created a legacy of caring that endures today.
Listen in as Jane Knapp, MD discusses these two women and how they started Children’s Mercy.
Women Ahead of Their Time: The Life and Legacy of the Berry Sisters
Featured Speaker:
Past leadership positions include: Pediatric Subcommittee of the Institute of Medicine Future of Emergency Care Committee, Chair of the AAP Section and Committee on PEM, and Chair of the ABP PEM Sub-board. She is also a member of the ACGME Board of Appeals Panel for PEM.
Dr. Knapp has received the Missouri Health Care Communicator of the Year award, the Citation of Merit from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine Alumni Association, the AAP PEM Distinguished Service Award, the Clinical Advances in Pediatrics Faculty Award and the CMH Department of Pediatrics Leadership Award. In 2001, she was recognized through a resolution by the Kansas City City Council for outstanding service to the children of Kansas City.
An accomplished educator and researcher, Dr Knapp’s interests include curriculum design and evaluation, historical perspectives in Pediatrics and the quality of emergency care for children.
Learn more about Dr. Jane Knapp
Jane Knapp, MD
Dr. Jane Knapp graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and completed a residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) at Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) in Kansas City, MO. She was one of the first physicians in the US to be fellowship trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Prior to becoming the Chair of Graduate Medical Education for Children’s Mercy in 2005, Dr. Knapp was the CMH Director of Emergency Services for 17 yrs. She is currently an Associate Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at CMH, the Associate Dean for CMH to the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the CMH Designated Institutional Official.Past leadership positions include: Pediatric Subcommittee of the Institute of Medicine Future of Emergency Care Committee, Chair of the AAP Section and Committee on PEM, and Chair of the ABP PEM Sub-board. She is also a member of the ACGME Board of Appeals Panel for PEM.
Dr. Knapp has received the Missouri Health Care Communicator of the Year award, the Citation of Merit from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine Alumni Association, the AAP PEM Distinguished Service Award, the Clinical Advances in Pediatrics Faculty Award and the CMH Department of Pediatrics Leadership Award. In 2001, she was recognized through a resolution by the Kansas City City Council for outstanding service to the children of Kansas City.
An accomplished educator and researcher, Dr Knapp’s interests include curriculum design and evaluation, historical perspectives in Pediatrics and the quality of emergency care for children.
Learn more about Dr. Jane Knapp
Transcription:
Women Ahead of Their Time: The Life and Legacy of the Berry Sisters
Dr. Michael Smith (Host): Our topic today is “Women Ahead of Their Time: The Life and Legacy of the Berry Sisters.” My guest today is Dr. Jane Knapp. Dr. Knapp is Chair of Graduate Medical Education for Children’s Mercy. She was also one of the first physicians in the U.S. to be fellowship trained in pediatric emergency medicine. Dr. Knapp, welcome to the show.
Dr. Jane Knapp (Guest): Well, thank you, Dr. Mike.
Dr. Mike: So, the Berry sisters, tell me about these two women and how they started Children’s Mercy.
Dr. Knapp: Yes. So, the Berry sisters--I think of them by their final names, Alice Berry Graham and Katharine Berry Richardson. They were born in pre-Civil War America. Alice was the older sister, she was born in 1850 in Pennsylvania, and Katharine was eight years her junior, so 1858 in Flat Rock, Kentucky. They lost their mother early in their life. Katharine was only three. Their father was an interesting man. He was an outspoken abolitionist, joined the Union Army and after the Civil War, he was left to raise his daughters. There were actually three daughters, the middle daughter was not involved in medicine. So, the girls went on to high school, and then to college and they had an interesting arrangement. Alice paid for Katharine to go to medical school and when Katharine graduated, she paid for Alice to go to dental school. When they finished, they had to decide what they’re going to do with their life. So, the legend goes or the story goes, they flipped a coin up in the air, and where it landed on a map is where they would go. So, it actually landed on La Crosse, Wisconsin, but, for whatever reason, the sisters didn’t stay there very long, and by the early 1890s they’d moved to Kansas City, and they attempted to set up their practices. Alice her dental practice--she set up a chair in their home and Katharine made house calls. Then one day, Alice received a call about an abandoned five-year-old little girl who was sick and needed help and she answered that call. They rented a hospital bed for the little girl and nursed her back to health. Something in that act of healing and kindness, you might say act of mercy even, made them realize their calling. That there was a gap, as we might describe today, in the care of children and so they founded a children’s hospital. In 1897, they started out just with rented beds and moved gradually to larger and larger buildings until we have the health system we have today.
Dr. Mike: What an awesome story. So, this question came from Children’s Mercy and so I’m a little curious myself, it talks about them being a bit controversial. What does that really mean?
Dr. Knapp: Well, I think it’s actually even more than a bit controversial. So, you have to think back to the times. We’re talking women who were outspoken at a time when that’s not how people looked at women. They were women professionals. They’d been shunned by the traditional medical community-- that is, not allowed to be admitted to the medical staff. They weren’t welcome in the professional societies, and so they were always, sort of, swimming upstream in terms of society. When they started this children’s hospital, they started it for poor children, and they started it with nothing. Two women without much money but with a fire in their belly, we might say, to help kids who needed it most. We know from records of the time that there were political cartoons that show the sisters dressed in, like, housekeeping clothes trying to do just about every job needed in a children’s hospital. They were also controversial in that Katharine, especially, was not afraid to go out and challenge the leaders of the community in terms of what they were doing for children and ask for their support and ask for money because they needed money; they needed food, linens, bedding, almost continuously. And, thirdly--if I’m on number three, I wasn’t really counting--they were the social conscience of the community. So, in their outspokenness, they called attention to the plight of poor children, especially children with physical disabilities who had been largely forgotten by society. So, yes, they sort of rattled some chains in Kansas City.
Dr. Mike: So, from the first child that they helped to the actual hospital being established, how much time are we talking there?
Dr. Knapp: So that's--you mean, when they rescued the child off the street?
Dr. Mike: Yes.
Dr. Knapp: I don’t know an exact date for that but I’d say it went pretty quickly because we’re talking probably over the course of, if I had a guess, less than a year when they really--there’s a quote where Alice said to her younger sister Katharine, “Something needs to be done for these children, and Katharine, I think you and I are the ones to do it.”
Dr. Mike: Wow.
Dr. Knapp: So I’d say--I’d say they…
Dr. Mike: Pretty quick, yes.
Dr. Knapp: They had their vision and they went for it.
Dr. Mike: Yeah. So, there was a priority for them, right? That was the nursing school.
Dr. Knapp: Yes.
Dr. Mike: Why did they make that a priority?
Dr. Knapp: So, why did they make the nursing school a priority? Well, to me it’s common sense. The sisters were smart and they knew if they were going to run a hospital and take the care that they wanted to take care of children, that nurses were an essential part of what they needed to do. And so, knowing that--and I think being women and understanding where nurses were in their professional development at the time, they knew it had to be a priority to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. So, to me, it’s just an indication that they saw things clearly, they were smart, and they knew what they had to do.
Dr. Mike: So, when you think back to the Berry sisters, and you think about what they did and what they accomplished--and look where you’re at today, right, with Children’s Mercy--one of the top children’s hospitals in the country--what do these sisters mean to you, and what do they mean to Children’s Mercy?
Dr. Knapp: Well, the more I know about them in terms of researching what our society was, what things were like at the time, the more I am in awe of what they accomplished. So, one of the important things that is kind of an intangible but the sisters were raised by their father to be community advocates. But, in that role of advocates, they had an expectation that the community would help out, that they would be partners. I think this culture of partnership between the community and the hospital that the created way back in the early 1900s has endured over time, and that’s been a tremendous asset to our hospital and perhaps their greatest legacy. For me as a physician, and I think many of my physician colleagues here at Children’s Mercy, are attracted to the fact that the sisters pledged their hospital to be for all children regardless of race, gender or ability to pay. We still try to, well, we still do, hold to all of those beliefs, and it’s incredibly fulfilling as a physician to work in a place that upholds those beliefs of equitable care for all children.
Dr. Mike: Yeah. Do you know, Dr. Knapp, if since these were two women at a time when it was tough for women to get into any sort of professional field, when they were establishing the hospital, what kind of support were they getting? This must have been a struggle, I assume, just to get things going based on they were just women. Do you have any insight on that?
Dr. Knapp: Well, I think it was a monumental struggle but they were able to find like-minded people. And by 1906, they had found physician, a native of Kansas City. He was from Kansas city, and his name was Robert McEwen Schauffler and he became the first male member of the medical staff, and stalwart, kind of backbone of the medical staff as well. Many other physicians followed Robert Schauffler. So, even though we said the sisters, especially Katharine, was controversial, there were people who shared their mission, and that's really what made it work. They attracted like-minded people who had respect for them and that made it happen. The same thing is true for, say, the philanthropists in the community. There were people who scoffed at them but there was also people who made big donations. There were hundreds of clubs populated by usually women that had special clinics that they looked out for or made food for the hospitals, so it was little gifts and big gifts that really added up to helping them make it at a time when it was extremely difficult.
Dr. Mike: Yes. I always find it interesting, Dr. Knapp, that the greatest institutions in our country, whether they be universities, hospitals, they always have the greatest stories of how they got started. I just think this is one of them. So, I want to thank you, Dr. Knapp, for coming on to the show and sharing the life and legacy of the Berry sisters. You’re listening to Transformational Pediatrics at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. For more information, you can go to childrensmercy.org. That’s childrensmercy.org. I’m Dr. Mike Smith. Thanks for listening.
Women Ahead of Their Time: The Life and Legacy of the Berry Sisters
Dr. Michael Smith (Host): Our topic today is “Women Ahead of Their Time: The Life and Legacy of the Berry Sisters.” My guest today is Dr. Jane Knapp. Dr. Knapp is Chair of Graduate Medical Education for Children’s Mercy. She was also one of the first physicians in the U.S. to be fellowship trained in pediatric emergency medicine. Dr. Knapp, welcome to the show.
Dr. Jane Knapp (Guest): Well, thank you, Dr. Mike.
Dr. Mike: So, the Berry sisters, tell me about these two women and how they started Children’s Mercy.
Dr. Knapp: Yes. So, the Berry sisters--I think of them by their final names, Alice Berry Graham and Katharine Berry Richardson. They were born in pre-Civil War America. Alice was the older sister, she was born in 1850 in Pennsylvania, and Katharine was eight years her junior, so 1858 in Flat Rock, Kentucky. They lost their mother early in their life. Katharine was only three. Their father was an interesting man. He was an outspoken abolitionist, joined the Union Army and after the Civil War, he was left to raise his daughters. There were actually three daughters, the middle daughter was not involved in medicine. So, the girls went on to high school, and then to college and they had an interesting arrangement. Alice paid for Katharine to go to medical school and when Katharine graduated, she paid for Alice to go to dental school. When they finished, they had to decide what they’re going to do with their life. So, the legend goes or the story goes, they flipped a coin up in the air, and where it landed on a map is where they would go. So, it actually landed on La Crosse, Wisconsin, but, for whatever reason, the sisters didn’t stay there very long, and by the early 1890s they’d moved to Kansas City, and they attempted to set up their practices. Alice her dental practice--she set up a chair in their home and Katharine made house calls. Then one day, Alice received a call about an abandoned five-year-old little girl who was sick and needed help and she answered that call. They rented a hospital bed for the little girl and nursed her back to health. Something in that act of healing and kindness, you might say act of mercy even, made them realize their calling. That there was a gap, as we might describe today, in the care of children and so they founded a children’s hospital. In 1897, they started out just with rented beds and moved gradually to larger and larger buildings until we have the health system we have today.
Dr. Mike: What an awesome story. So, this question came from Children’s Mercy and so I’m a little curious myself, it talks about them being a bit controversial. What does that really mean?
Dr. Knapp: Well, I think it’s actually even more than a bit controversial. So, you have to think back to the times. We’re talking women who were outspoken at a time when that’s not how people looked at women. They were women professionals. They’d been shunned by the traditional medical community-- that is, not allowed to be admitted to the medical staff. They weren’t welcome in the professional societies, and so they were always, sort of, swimming upstream in terms of society. When they started this children’s hospital, they started it for poor children, and they started it with nothing. Two women without much money but with a fire in their belly, we might say, to help kids who needed it most. We know from records of the time that there were political cartoons that show the sisters dressed in, like, housekeeping clothes trying to do just about every job needed in a children’s hospital. They were also controversial in that Katharine, especially, was not afraid to go out and challenge the leaders of the community in terms of what they were doing for children and ask for their support and ask for money because they needed money; they needed food, linens, bedding, almost continuously. And, thirdly--if I’m on number three, I wasn’t really counting--they were the social conscience of the community. So, in their outspokenness, they called attention to the plight of poor children, especially children with physical disabilities who had been largely forgotten by society. So, yes, they sort of rattled some chains in Kansas City.
Dr. Mike: So, from the first child that they helped to the actual hospital being established, how much time are we talking there?
Dr. Knapp: So that's--you mean, when they rescued the child off the street?
Dr. Mike: Yes.
Dr. Knapp: I don’t know an exact date for that but I’d say it went pretty quickly because we’re talking probably over the course of, if I had a guess, less than a year when they really--there’s a quote where Alice said to her younger sister Katharine, “Something needs to be done for these children, and Katharine, I think you and I are the ones to do it.”
Dr. Mike: Wow.
Dr. Knapp: So I’d say--I’d say they…
Dr. Mike: Pretty quick, yes.
Dr. Knapp: They had their vision and they went for it.
Dr. Mike: Yeah. So, there was a priority for them, right? That was the nursing school.
Dr. Knapp: Yes.
Dr. Mike: Why did they make that a priority?
Dr. Knapp: So, why did they make the nursing school a priority? Well, to me it’s common sense. The sisters were smart and they knew if they were going to run a hospital and take the care that they wanted to take care of children, that nurses were an essential part of what they needed to do. And so, knowing that--and I think being women and understanding where nurses were in their professional development at the time, they knew it had to be a priority to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. So, to me, it’s just an indication that they saw things clearly, they were smart, and they knew what they had to do.
Dr. Mike: So, when you think back to the Berry sisters, and you think about what they did and what they accomplished--and look where you’re at today, right, with Children’s Mercy--one of the top children’s hospitals in the country--what do these sisters mean to you, and what do they mean to Children’s Mercy?
Dr. Knapp: Well, the more I know about them in terms of researching what our society was, what things were like at the time, the more I am in awe of what they accomplished. So, one of the important things that is kind of an intangible but the sisters were raised by their father to be community advocates. But, in that role of advocates, they had an expectation that the community would help out, that they would be partners. I think this culture of partnership between the community and the hospital that the created way back in the early 1900s has endured over time, and that’s been a tremendous asset to our hospital and perhaps their greatest legacy. For me as a physician, and I think many of my physician colleagues here at Children’s Mercy, are attracted to the fact that the sisters pledged their hospital to be for all children regardless of race, gender or ability to pay. We still try to, well, we still do, hold to all of those beliefs, and it’s incredibly fulfilling as a physician to work in a place that upholds those beliefs of equitable care for all children.
Dr. Mike: Yeah. Do you know, Dr. Knapp, if since these were two women at a time when it was tough for women to get into any sort of professional field, when they were establishing the hospital, what kind of support were they getting? This must have been a struggle, I assume, just to get things going based on they were just women. Do you have any insight on that?
Dr. Knapp: Well, I think it was a monumental struggle but they were able to find like-minded people. And by 1906, they had found physician, a native of Kansas City. He was from Kansas city, and his name was Robert McEwen Schauffler and he became the first male member of the medical staff, and stalwart, kind of backbone of the medical staff as well. Many other physicians followed Robert Schauffler. So, even though we said the sisters, especially Katharine, was controversial, there were people who shared their mission, and that's really what made it work. They attracted like-minded people who had respect for them and that made it happen. The same thing is true for, say, the philanthropists in the community. There were people who scoffed at them but there was also people who made big donations. There were hundreds of clubs populated by usually women that had special clinics that they looked out for or made food for the hospitals, so it was little gifts and big gifts that really added up to helping them make it at a time when it was extremely difficult.
Dr. Mike: Yes. I always find it interesting, Dr. Knapp, that the greatest institutions in our country, whether they be universities, hospitals, they always have the greatest stories of how they got started. I just think this is one of them. So, I want to thank you, Dr. Knapp, for coming on to the show and sharing the life and legacy of the Berry sisters. You’re listening to Transformational Pediatrics at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. For more information, you can go to childrensmercy.org. That’s childrensmercy.org. I’m Dr. Mike Smith. Thanks for listening.