New Amsterdam is a settlement founded by the Dutch in the first half of the 17th century. There are many exciting historical facts about the way people lived in early New York. One of these facts is medicine. From the very foundation of the settlement and for more than 10 years, New Amsterdam was without a qualified doctor. But how were the first inhabitants of early New York treated then? Learn more on i-new-york.com.
Services of ship’s doctors
Since the founding of New Amsterdam settlement in 1626, there was no permanent doctor. In those old days, people had to wait for a ship to receive medical care. Surgeons were necessarily ferried on them together with the crew. But each of them was not a professional healthcare worker; they only knew a basic set of practices required for first aid. Inhabitants of New Amsterdam had been receiving medical services from the ship’s doctors for over a decade. Only after this did the first experienced doctors settle in the Dutch town to provide quality medical services to the population.
Hairdressing-surgical salons of New Amsterdam
Soon the ship’s surgeons settled in New Amsterdam, started families, farms and jobs. Most of them became hairdresser-surgeons in New Amsterdam. In the hairdressing salons of the early 17th century in early New York, it was possible not only to get a haircut but also to have a real operation. But all the operations performed in the hairdressing salons of those days were not significant. The ship’s surgeons who retrained as hairdressers were still unqualified healthcare workers. They were very far from the modern medicine of the 17th century.
The first doctors of New Amsterdam
Johannes La Montagne is considered to be the first person to establish a medical practice in New Amsterdam. He arrived in New Amsterdam with his family in the second half of the 1630s. Johannes La Montagne had an excellent medical education, a deep knowledge of many sciences and also spoke several languages. Such skills made him a leader in New Amsterdam community. Shortly after arriving in the Dutch settlement, Montagne opened a medical practice and began seeing people.
Thanks to his mind, Montagne was able to open not only his own medical practice in New Amsterdam but also become a member of the City Council. In addition, he commanded the troops of Manhattan and was a member of the People’s Congress, which constantly claimed government reform. He played a very important role in the community of New Amsterdam not only as a doctor but also as an active political figure. Montagne was involved in essential commissions on peace negotiations with the Indians and much more.
He was the only regular doctor in the first half of the 17th century in New Amsterdam. The inhabitants of the settlement entrusted their lives exclusively to Montagne, an experienced physician. Fewer and fewer people began to address the services of professional ship surgeons. At that time, Johannes La Montagne was applying the most innovative innovations of Dutch medicine in his medical practice.
As Johannes La Montagne was the only permanent, highly qualified physician in New Amsterdam, he took control of all the existing hairdressing-surgical salons, as well as the work of ship surgeons who continued to serve the city’s population. Montagne’s regulatory policy and licensing of medical practice have allowed for an improvement in the quality of medical services in New Amsterdam.
After the lands of New Amsterdam went under English control, Johannes La Montagne signed an oath of allegiance to the Crown and continued to develop the city in various fields until 1670.