As part of our blog series about women medical pioneers, meet Dr Kazue Togasaki, an Obstetrician, Prisoner of War and one of the first women with Japanese ancestry to earn a medical degree in the US.
Inspiration
On the morning of April 18, 1906, an earthquake of enormous magnitude shook San Francisco. Leaking gas from ruptured pipes ignited raging fires which spread throughout the city. 3,000 people died and 400,000 were left homeless.
9-year-old Kazue Togasaki and her family were among the survivors. After the earthquake her mother turned their local church into a makeshift hospital and Kazue helped to take care of the wounded.
She also travelled to the real hospital with Japanese American women to act as their translator. This experience inspired Kazue Togasaki to become a doctor and she became one of the first Japanese American women to earn a Medical Degree in the US.
Becoming an Obstetrician
Kazue studied zoology at Stanford University before enrolling in a nursing programme at a children’s hospital. She finished top of her class but struggled to find work because of her race.
No local universities in San Francisco were open to women to study Medicine so, in 1933, she moved to Philadelphia and was accepted at The Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.
After obtaining her medical degree, Kazue specialised in obstetrics, and returned home to San Francisco where she bought a home and started a practice.
Prisoner of War
However, on 7th December 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. The US declared War against Japan and formally entered WWII. All 120,000 people of Japanese Ancestry from the Pacific Coast, whether US citizens or not, were forced from their homes and imprisoned in internment camps.
Kazue Togasaki was taken to Tanforan Assembly Centre. Tanforan was a former racetrack and the prisoners had to live in horse stalls. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire fences and guarded by the US army at all times.
Occupants were given one blanket, unless they were over 60 years, in which case they were allowed a mattress to sleep on. A total of 8,033 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated here. Food was scarce and dietary deficiencies were common.
Kazue set up a medical facility at the centre, creating a safe space for people to be treated. She led a team of fellow Japanese-American doctors and nurses who delivered basic medical services, vaccination programmes, and obstetric care. During her first month at Tanforan, Kazue delivered over 50 babies.
Kazue went on to work at several other Internment Camps including Stockton Assembly Centre, Tule Lake, Poston, Manzanar and Topaz Internment Camps until she was released in 1943.
Starting Over
On her return home to San Francisco, Kazue was heartbroken to find that her home had been ransacked and anything of value looted. However, she was determined to start her medical practice over again.
Starting from scratch, she served her community for the next 40 years. She treated families regardless of their ability to pay and often took unwed mothers and terminally ill patients into her home to care for them. During her career she delivered over 10,000 babies.
Kazue worked as a doctor until the age of 75 years when she sadly began to show symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. She died at the age of 95.
She is remembered by her stoic determination to “start-over” when things go wrong, and by the fond gratitude of the Japanese-American community that she served for generations.
