CMC invites ‘Dr. May Babies’ to attend Labor and Delivery Open House
Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville is inviting anyone delivered by Dr. May Wharton to an Open House in the hospital’s state-of-the-art Labor and Delivery Department. The event will be Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011.
Dr. Wharton practiced medicine in Cumberland County for approximately 40 years from 1917 to 1957, and was instrumental in gaining federal, state and private funding for the establishment of the Cumberland Medical Center (CMC) in 1950.
During her medical career, she delivered hundreds of babies in the county. Many were born in rural homes and the forerunner of CMC — a three-room hospital in Pleasant Hill, as well as CMC itself.
They became known as “Dr. May Babies,” and were regularly recognized by the community.
“We want to revive that recognition with a special celebration and opportunity for the community to honor the persons that Dr. Wharton delivered. At the same time, we want them to visit our Labor and Delivery Department to see how babies are delivered in today’s high-tech environment,” said CMC’s CEO Dr. Barry Wagner.
Dr. Wharton and her husband Edwin Wharton, a Congregational minister and missionary, are among a long list of persons who were born elsewhere, moved to Cumberland County, and became significant members of the community.
Born in Minnesota, Dr. Wharton attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She earned her B.A. at the University of North Dakota and taught there. Choosing to change to a career in medicine, she graduated in 1905 from the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
She established her first private practice in Atlanta, Georgia, where she met and married her husband. He served small churches and she practiced medicine.
In 1917, they moved to Cumberland County when Edwin was appointed the principal of the Pleasant Hill Academy. This was a boarding school for disadvantaged rural youths which was established in 1884 by the American Missionary Association. She taught health and served as the school’s physician.
During the influenza pandemic of 1918-19, Dr. Wharton branched out to bring health care to surrounding Cumberland County residents and develop the county’s first hospital in Pleasant Hill.
She led a fundraising drive to replace the initial facility built around the original three-room hospital with a general hospital in 1935.
After World War II the hospital was moved to Crossville because the federal and state funding required it be located in the county seat.
Dr. Wharton’s achievements have been recognized by the Tennessee Medical Association, Carleton College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. You can read about Dr. May’s life story in “The Doctor Woman of the Cumberlands.”
She died in 1959 at the age of 86.
“We’re certain there are still a number of area residents in their 50’s and older who were delivered by Dr. Wharton,” Dr. Wagner said.
Anyone who is a “Dr. May baby” is asked to contact Debi Davis, executive director of physician relations, at the hospital for information about attending the event. Anyone who knows of someone living outside of Cumberland County, who was delivered by Dr. Wharton, is also asked to contact Debi Davis with the name and address. Her phone number is (931) 459-7321.