Born: November 8 1898, United States
Died: January 23 1990
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
For more than 60 years, Maude E. Callen provided medical care to countless patients in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, serving some of the highest poverty areas in the southern U.S. Graduating from Florida A&M University in 1922, she went on to complete a nursing program at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, with additional training from Georgia Infirmary in Savannah and in tuberculosis care at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis. By 1923, she had established her practice in Pineville in Berkeley County, which was one of South Carolina’s poorest counties at the time. She had moved to Pineville as an Episcopal missionary nurse, in what was meant to be a temporary posting. Callen was one of only nine nurse-midwives in the state at the time, and she would teach other women in the community midwifery. In addition to in-home services of an area of around 400 square miles, the community clinic she operated out of her own home was miles from the nearest hospital, and she is estimated to have delivered between 600 and 800 babies over 62 years.
Callen’s work was highlighted in a 1951 profile in Life magazine with W. Eugene Smith’s 12-page photo essay “Nurse Midwife.” Its publication resulted in more than $20,000 in donations from readers to support Callen’s work, and she was able to open the Maude E. Callen Clinic in 1953. She ran the clinic until retiring in 1971, at which point she asked county officials to open a Senior Citizens Nutrition Site, which operated out of the clinic from 1980. She managed the senior center as a volunteer until her death in 1990, with services including meals cooked and delivered five days a week and providing transportation to seniors. When she was invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan, she reportedly said “You can’t just call me up and ask me to be somewhere. I’ve got to do my job.”