Margaret Irving Handy

{{Short description|American pediatrician (1889–1977)}}

{{Infobox medical person

|name = Margaret Irving Handy

|image = Margaret Irving Handy.jpg

|image_size =

|alt =

|caption =

|birth_date = 1889

|birth_place = Smyrna, Delaware

|death_date = 1977

|death_place =

|profession = Physician

|specialism = Pediatrics

|research_field =

|known_for = Pioneer of pediatric medicine, established the first mothers' milk bank at Delaware Hospital

|years_active =

|alma mater = Goucher College
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

|work_institutions = Delaware Hospital

}}

Margaret Irving Handy (1889–1977) was an American pioneering medical doctor who was one of the first to specialize in pediatric medicine.{{cite journal

| last = Duff

| first = J.H.

| title = Margaret Irving Handy: a lady and a doctor

| journal = Delaware Medical Journal

| volume = 62

| issue = 4

| pages = 944–8, 951–4

| year = 1990

| pmid = 2187716

}}{{cite book

| last = Emery

| first = Alan E. H.

|author2=Marcia Emery

| title = Medicine and Art

| publisher = Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd

| year = 2002

| page = 92

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UZ6tcXC9f3QC&dq=%22margaret+handy%22&pg=PA92

| isbn = 978-1-85315-501-7}} In 1945, she established the first mothers' milk bank at Delaware Hospital (now Wilmington Hospital) in Wilmington, Delaware.

{{cite web

| title = Human Milk Banks, patenting {{!}} Lactnet

| author = Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

| date = 2003-01-23

| url = http://community.lsoft.com/SCRIPTS/WA-LSOFTDONATIONS.EXE?A2=ind0301d&L=lactnet&T=0&P=24120

| access-date = 2007-10-19 }}{{cite web

| title = Obituary: Margaret H. Trentman

| work = South Coast Today

| publisher = The South Coast Media Group

| date = 2001-09-06

| url = http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-01/09-06-01/zzzddobi.htm

| access-date = 2007-10-19 }}

She was born in Smyrna, Delaware, the daughter of L. Irving Handy, a U.S. Representative.{{cite web

| title = Dr Margaret Irving Handy

| work = Changing the Face of Medicine

| publisher = National Library of Medicine

| url = https://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_349.html

| access-date = 2007-10-19 }} She attended Goucher College and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from which she graduated in 1916. She was the first native-born female Delawarean to become a doctor and was also the state's first pediatrician.

In 1918, during an outbreak of Spanish influenza in the Wilmington area, Handy was asked by the Board of Health to open a paediatric ward at People's Settlement staffed by volunteers and with very little equipment.{{cite journal

|last = Liebesman

|first = Maurice

|title = In-flu-Enza

|journal = AAP Senior Bulletin

|volume = 15

|issue = 2

|pages = 21–22

|publisher = American Academy of Pediatrics

|date = Spring 2006

|url = http://www.aap.org/sections/seniormembers/docs/SrBullSpr06.pdf

|access-date = 2007-10-19

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100615235558/http://aap.org/sections/seniormembers/docs/SrBullSpr06.pdf

|archive-date = 2010-06-15

}} She subsequently established a pediatric clinic and became Assistant Chief, and in 1921, Chief, of Pediatrics at Delaware Hospital where she set up a nursery for premature babies.

Handy collected surplus breast milk in the community to feed the babies of mothers who could not breast feed, and in 1945 founded the Mother's Milk Bank with Margaret Trentman, a hospital board member whose baby son had died because she was unable to nurse him. The bank supplied breast milk to mothers throughout the United States as well as for research purposes, for 40 years.{{cite journal

| last = Handy

| first = Margaret

| title = Mothers' Milk Bank at the Delaware Hospital

| journal = Pediatrics

| volume = 33

| issue = 3

| page = 468

| publisher = American Academy of Pediatrics

| date = 1964-03-03

| doi = 10.1542/peds.33.3.468

| url = http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/33/3/468

| access-date = 2007-10-19 | url-access = subscription

}}

She helped to establish ophthalmology as a speciality in Delaware, with Norman Cutler becoming the first state-certified ophthalmologist in 1947.{{cite web| title =A Brief History| publisher =Delaware Ophthalmology Consultants| url =http://www.delawareeyes.com/Welcome.html| access-date =2007-10-19| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070807094718/http://www.delawareeyes.com/Welcome.html| archive-date =2007-08-07}}

Handy received a number of awards including the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary's Elizabeth Blackwell Citation (honoring female doctors) and the Annie Jump Cannon medal from Wesley College as well as the 1953 Josiah Marvel Cup for outstanding contributions to the state and to society in the field of children's medicine.{{cite web|title=Josiah Marvel Cup Award Recipients 1951 - 2005 |publisher=Delaware State Chamber of Commerce |url=http://www.dscc.com/state_chamber/images/MarvelCupWinners.pdf |access-date=2007-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119013845/http://www.dscc.com/state_chamber/images/MarvelCupWinners.pdf |archive-date=January 19, 2007 }}

The Margaret Handy Lectureship at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware is named for her.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

Andrew Wyeth painted The Children's Doctor, a "votive-like" portrait of Handy, in 1949 after she treated his son Nicholas at his remote farm.{{cite journal

| first = Y. Michael

| last = Barilan

|date= Winter 2004| title = Medicine through the artist's eyes before, during and after the Holocaust

| journal = Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

| volume = 47

| issue = 1

| pages = 110–134

| doi =10.1353/pbm.2004.0001

| quote = Andrew Wyeth's portrait of Dr. Margaret Handy (1949, Brandwyne River Museum, Chadds Fords, Pennsylvania, not shown) is a votive-like portrait of the famous pediatrician who called on the artist’s sick son in his distant farm; it is based on photography and on the visual language of The Country Doctor.

| pmid = 15061172

| s2cid = 39140485

}} Wyeth painted another portrait, From the Capes, in 1974 and gave her Lenape Barn, a watercolour, as a gift in 1961.{{cite news

| title = Wyeth Trial Balloon - How Hot Does It Have to Be?

| work = Artnet News

| publisher = artnet Worldwide Corporation

| date = 2000-04-20

| url = http://www.artnet.com/magazine/news/artnetnews/artnetnews4-20-00.asp

| access-date = 2007-10-19 }}{{cite web

| title = Lot 136 : ANDREW WYETH B. 1917

| publisher = Invaluable Group Ltd.

| year = 2006

| url = http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/viewLot.cfm?lotCode=HRXJBYC0&lotType=artist&aID=49033

| access-date = 2007-10-19 }}