Isabel Zendal
Isabel Zendal Gómez (born 1773) was a Spanish nurse from Galicia who took part in the Balmis Expedition (1803-1806, Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna), which took smallpox vaccination to South America and Asia.[1][2]
She had previously been the supervisor or "rectoress" of an orphanage in A Coruña, and her role on the expedition was to take care of the group of 22, later 26, small orphan boys who carried the virus from which the vaccine was prepared.[2]
The three-year expedition aimed to vaccinate millions of people against smallpox, and had the support of king Charles IV of Spain whose daughter had died of the disease.
Name
[edit]
Her name has been spelled in some 30 different ways including Isabel Sendales y Gómez, Isabel López Gandalia, Ysabel Gómez Sandalla and Isabel Cendala y Gómez. A street in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain was initially named Calle Isabel Lopez Gandalia in her honour. This name was changed in 2017 to Calle Isabel Zendal Gómez as a more accurate version of the name.[3]
Recognition
[edit]In 1950 the World Health Organization recognised her as the first nurse in history to take part in an international mission.[4]
Julia Alvarez's novel Saving the World (2006, Algonquin Books ISBN 9781565125100) draws on Zendal's experience on the expedition.[5][6]
In 2018 Spanish pharmaceutical group CZ Veterinaria renamed itself Zendal in honor to Isabel Zendal.[7]
The Region of Madrid in Spain has named the Hospital de Emergencias Enfermera Isabel Zendal after her, which was built in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
A statue of Zendal by Francisco Escudeiro was erected in A Coruna in 2020, in rúa Victoria Fernández España near the site of the hospital where she worked.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Adéntrate en su Historia: Isabel Zendal". Asociación Isabel Zendal Gómez. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ a b "La dama de la vacuna, Isabel Zendal (1773-?)". Mujeres en la historia. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ Garcia, Rodri (11 September 2009). "La calle Isabel López Gandalia recoge una de las 30 versiones que hay de los apellidos de esta mujer". La Voz de Galicia. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "La rectora Isabel, al descubierto". La Opinion A Coruna. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "About the Book: Saving the World". Reading Group Guides. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ Alvarez, Julia. "Books: Saving the World". Julia Alvarez. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ "CZ se refuerza para la macroproducción mundial de vacunas bajo el sello Zendal". La Voz de Galicia. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "El hospital para pandemias se llamará Isabel Zendal, enfermera que combatió viruela" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
- ^ "A Coruña homenaxea cunha estatua conmemorativa á enfermeira e filla predilecta de Ordes, Isabel Zendal" [The memorial statue of the nurse and predestined daughter of Ordes, Isabel Zendal, is hosted in Corunna]. concello.ordes.gal (in Galician). Concello de Ordes. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
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