Gladys McGarey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gladys Louise Taylor November 30, 1920 Fatehgarh, India |
| Occupation(s) | Holistic physician, educator, and writer |
| Years active | 1940s to present |
| Known for | Promoting holistic medicine, conducting humanitarian missions, co-founding and leading medical organizations |
| Spouse |
William McGarey
(m. 1943; death 2008) |
| Parent(s) | John and Elizabeth (née Siehl) Taylor, medical missionaries |
| Relatives | Carl E. Taylor (brother) |
Gladys (née Taylor) McGarey (born November 30, 1920) a holistic physician and missionary, is the daughter of two medical missionaries in India. Over her career, McGarey has promoted better childbirth practices, holistic medicine, and acupuncture through her medical practice, speeches, and books. She co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978 and served as its president and co-founded the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine. She was the president of the Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners.
McGarey has been awarded medical and lifetime achievement awards over the course of her life, including being honored as a Pioneer of Holistic Medicine by the American Holistic Medical Association and being inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame.
Born in Fatehgarh, India on November 30, 1920, Gladys Louise Taylor is the fourth child of Dr. John Taylor[1][2] and Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Taylor,[3] two Reformed Presbyterian Church missionaries who traveled to remote areas of India to deliver medical care.[2][4] Her mother was one of the world's first female medical physicians.[3] Her father was also an ordained minister.[5]
Her parents left the Cincinnati, Ohio for India in 1914 and settled north of New Delhi in Mussoorie.[3] They each had their own treatment tents. Her father's tent was in the jungle. They offered free medical care to all people, regardless of caste, and many of their patients were children of parents with Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy.[3] During the conflict-ridden period after the Partition of India, the Taylors treated the injured, prevented the spread of disease through immunizations, and buried the dead. Their work was recognized by Mahatma Gandhi.[6] John and Beth were missionaries in India until 1967. After John retired they founded a home for the children of people with Hansen's disease.[5] Towards the end of his life, John published India—Dr. John Taylor Remembers.[5] Beth died in 1970 and John followed in 1973.[5]
Taylor had a sister, Margaret, and three brothers, John, Carl, and Gordon.[2][7][a] She studied at the Woodstock School in India.[2]
In 1935, Taylor came to the United States where she studied and graduated from the Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, and then Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.[2][4] She also received additional training in obstetrics and gynecology.[2] Taylor interned at the Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati in 1946.[8] She was the lone woman among male interns.[4]
Gladys Taylor met and four years later[2] on December 23, 1943,[8] married William McGarey at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, becoming Gladys McGarey. Both passed their Ohio Medical Board examinations in June 1947 and intended to be missionaries.[2][4][b] In 1947, William, a graduate of the College of the Ozarks, was a surgery resident at the Cincinnati General Hospital.[2]
They had six children,[4] three of whom —Carl, John, and Bob — were born before she completed her internship. They then had two daughters Helena and Analea and a son David.[9] Analea wrote the book Born to Heal about her mother.[10]
William McGarey died on November 3, 2008. His medical career was much like his wife's; he practiced holistic medicine and acupuncture, was co-founder of holistic and other medical organizations, incorporated Cayce's medical theories into his practice, and was an author. His residence was in Scottsdale, Arizona at the time of his death.[11]
She specialized and became board-certified in Holistic and Integrated Medicine, believing in holistic approach to medicine through the "interconnectedness of all aspects [of a person] – body, mind, emotions, spirit" as opposed to the general practice of issuing prescriptions to treat disease and injuries.[4]
McGarey and William opened a medical practice in Wellsville, Ohio after she completed her internship. In 1952, William was drafted and was stationed at an Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona.[10] Three years later, the family of six moved to Phoenix, where William worked at a county hospital.[10]
For 60 years, she operated a family practice where she focused on prevention and wellness,[4] including some of Edgar Cayce's beliefs about living a health lifestyle through diet, nutrition, and being wellness-centered. She said, "Unless our primary focus is toward enhancing life rather than simply killing diseases, we will not really understand where healing comes from."[9] She introduced the mind, body, spirit approach to healing, as well as prayer and meditation, to treat her patients.[6] McGarey spoke at Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) events.[6]
She was the first medical physician to use acupuncture to treat her patients.[4] In addition to teaching, she has written books and delivered speeches about natural childbirth and acupuncture.[4]
McGarey sought to integrate holistic practices within traditional medical practice in other countries. She conducted scientific research and education through the organization that she founded, Gladys Taylor McGarey Foundation,[4] in 1989. The foundation's activities include education of the integraton of holistic medical practices with traditional medical care, including childbirth, humanitarian efforts, and patient awareness.[12] The foundation was recognized in 2008 for their work at University of Arizona Medical School where they taught the ways in which integrative medicine improves patient's recovery.[12][c] In 2009, McGarey responded to President Barack Obama's request to identify the ways in which the health care system in the United States could be improved. Her response was based upon the feedback of a symposium she conducted in May 2009 with 35 Alternative Medicine physicians.[13]
McGarey provided humanitarian aid in Tibet, India, and other countries. Her approach was to integrate new treatment practices with traditional healing practices used in rural communities.[4]
She joined her brother Carl E. Taylor, founding chair of the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, on a humanitarian medical operation in Afghanistan after he told her that Afghanistan had the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world.[14] In Afghanistan, McGarey taught women how to take care of themselves while pregnant, including diet and nutrition, and childbirth practices that reduced infant mortality 47% in the rural areas that she visited. [4][14]
McGarey, her husband, Evarts Loomis, Gerald Looney, C. Norm Shealy, and co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association[15] in 1978 and served as its vice president and president.[4][14] They decided to spell holistic with an "h" rather than a "w" because the Anglo Saxon world "hal" was the root word for "holy," "health" and "healing".[14]
She has also been the president of the Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners. Over her career, she has been known as the "Mother of Holistic Medicine". She was a co-founder of the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine.[4]
Awards in the field of medicine:[4]
Other awards:[4]
