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.[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
![](../I/m/Rua_Isabel_Zendal_G%C3%B3mez.jpg)
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 is named Calle Isabel Lopez Gandalia in her honour.[3]
Recognition
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]
References
- "Adéntrate en su Historia: Isabel Zendal". Asociación Isabel Zendal Gómez. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- "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.