Hi-Lites Youth Column: Maternity Care at Minidoka
By Izzy Martin, Friends of Minidoka High School Summer Intern, One Stone School, Boise
Featured above is a picture of the Minidoka hospital nursery. One of the major aspects of healthcare at Minidoka was maternity care. It is hard to imagine the physical and emotional complications caused from delivering a child in camp.
However, in the Densho Encyclopedia, the maternity program is recorded as a highlight. During the seven month period that the maternity program was operational, 504 births were recorded. Otherwise, women would be transferred to nearby hospitals outside of camp.
When both mother and child returned to their barracks, they were provided with “well-baby” care, a service that continued postpartum care through clinical and home visits. In a Public Health Nurse Statistical Report from February of 1944, 17 mothers attended a demonstration sponge bath where they were taught the basics of caring for their newly born infants. “The importance of a good post-partum regime” was stressed.
Ami Kinoshita, a Minidoka survivor, tells the story of birthing her first child in camp. She recounts details of traveling in a sleeper car on the way to camp in an effort to avoid losing her child from rough travel. After arriving at the isolated and sandy camp, her daughter Jayne Kinoshita was born in the camp hospital on December 14th, 1942.
“Minidoka Hospital Nursery.” Courtesy of the National Archives, photo no. 210-G-11A-748. Densho. 10-Dec-42 https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-fom-1-857/?format=img
“Public Health Nurse Statistical Report.” Box 6, Folder 15. Sims Collections. Special Collections and Archives - Boise State University. February 1944
Smith, Susan L. “Women Health Workers and the Color Line in the Japanese American ‘Relocation Centers’ of World War II.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 73, no. 4, 1999, pp. 585–601. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44446033. Accessed 19 Jul. 2022.
Fiset, Louis. "Medical care in camp." Densho Encyclopedia. 5 Oct 2020, 17:44 PDT. 28 Jul 2022, 15:51 https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Medical%20care%20in%20camp
Kinoshita, Ami. Conducted by Betty Jean Harry. Japanese American Museum of Oregon Collection. Interview Segment 10, Densho. May 29, 2014. https://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-one-7-70-10/?tableft=segments
Niiya, Brian. "Minidoka." Densho Encyclopedia. 16 Dec 2021, 21:51 PST. 28 Jul 2022, 15:52 https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Minidoka