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 Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

to South America and Asia. She had previously been the supervisor or "rectoress" of an orphanage in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, 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. The three-year expedition aimed to vaccinate millions of people against smallpox, and had the support of king

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

whose daughter had died of the disease.

Name

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 was initially named ''Calle Isabel Lopez Gandalia'' in her honour. This name was changed in 2017 to ''Calle Isabel Zendal Gómez'' as a more accurate version of the name.

Recognition

In 1950 the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

recognised her as the first nurse in history to take part in an international mission.

Julia Alvarez Julia Alvarez (born March 27, 1950) is an American New Formalist poet, novelist, and essayist. She rose to prominence with the novels ''How the García Girls Lost Their Accents'' (1991), '' In the Time of the Butterflies'' (1994), and ''Yo!'' ...

's novel ''Saving the World'' (2006, Algonquin Books ) draws on Zendal's experience on the expedition. In 2018 Spanish pharmaceutical group ''CZ Veterinaria'' renamed itself

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 and Asia. She had previously b ...

in honor to Isabel Zendal. The Region of Madrid in Spain has named the

Hospital de Emergencias Enfermera Isabel Zendal The Hospital de Emergencias Enfermera Isabel Zendal is a public hospital constructed during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Hortaleza district of Madrid, Spain. Having opened its doors in December 2020 after a construction period of only 100 days, i ...

after her, which was built in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zendal, Isabel 1773 births Year of death missing Spanish nurses People from Galicia (Spain)