Barbara Stokes facts for kids

Dr Barbara Stokes (born 20 December 1922 – died 22 March 2009) was an important Irish doctor who worked with children. She was known for helping children with disabilities and for fighting for their rights.

Growing Up and Family Life

Barbara Stokes was born in London, England, on 20 December 1922. Her dad, William, was Irish, and her mom, Pauline, was English. Barbara loved spending her summer holidays in Ireland. She even played in the Irish junior tennis championship when she was a teenager!

She went to St Paul's Girls' School in London. Her uncle, Adrian Stokes, was a doctor who studied diseases. He inspired Barbara to become a doctor too. They even wrote letters to each other while he was doing research far away in Africa.

In 1939, when Barbara's dad retired, her family moved back to Dublin, Ireland. They lived in a place called Howth. That same year, Barbara started studying medicine at Trinity College Dublin.

She finished her medical degree in 1945. She then trained at the Meath Hospital in Dublin. It was a special place for her family, as her great-grandfather, great-uncle, and another uncle had also worked there.

In 1947, Barbara earned a certificate in public health. She wanted to study how diseases spread, but at the time, there were rules (called the "marriage bar") that stopped married women from getting certain jobs.

On 10 September 1946, Barbara married Dr Roderick O'Hanlon. He was also a doctor, specializing in helping mothers give birth. They had three sons: Andrew, Paul, and Denzil. Sadly, two of her sons passed away before her. Her husband passed away in 1980.

Helping Children: Her Career

Barbara Stokes started her career working with Dr Robert Collis at the National Children's Hospital in Dublin. This is where she began her important work to improve the lives of children with physical and intellectual disabilities.

In 1947, she became an assistant doctor at St Ultan's Hospital for Infants. She also worked at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital. Later, in the 1950s, she taught at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She also had her own practice, focusing on newborn babies.

Barbara also helped raise money to improve the Liberty Creche in Dublin. This creche (a type of daycare) had been helping working mothers since 1894. Throughout her life, she supported the Liberty Creche and helped set up new ones in the 1960s.

St Michael's House: A Big Step

From 1955, Barbara volunteered with a group called the Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Handicapped Children. She became a part-time medical director for St Michael's House, which was part of this group. Later, she managed the whole organization.

In 1959, she started a service that offered medical check-ups for children all over Ireland. By 1961, she became the full-time medical director and opened a daycare for children with intellectual disabilities. She worked closely with parents, giving medical advice and helping to set up many new services and facilities in the 1960s.

Advocating for Community Care

Barbara strongly believed that children with disabilities should live in their communities, not in special institutions far away. She thought that putting them in institutions should only be a last choice.

In 1967, she helped open a special care unit in Ballymun. In 1968, the first clinic at St Michael's House opened with a team of different specialists. Barbara also stressed the importance of looking at each child within their family. She understood that caring for a child with disabilities could be tough on the whole family, and they needed support too.

Public Voice and Achievements

Barbara Stokes often spoke in public about the needs of children with disabilities. She helped create a report in 1972 about children's hospital services, making sure parents' and families' needs were heard. She also advised on a documentary called A long way to go (1978), which looked at the challenges young people with disabilities faced.

She worked hard to raise money, estimating that there were 25,000 to 30,000 children with disabilities in Ireland. Thanks to her efforts, St Michael's House grew to have over 200 staff by the mid-1970s, mostly funded by the government. She also helped develop services at Cheeverstown House and a planned village in Templeogue.

Barbara believed in using research to improve care. She also supported using new technologies in the 1990s to find genetic markers for certain disorders.

For her amazing work, she received the People of the Year Awards and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Leadership Award in 1990. She was also a member and later president of the Irish Paediatric Association. She served on many important boards, helping to shape policies for children and people with disabilities.

Barbara Stokes retired in 1987. She had lived with multiple sclerosis for 35 years. She passed away on 22 March 2009.

In 2019, Barbara Stokes was honored as part of the Women on Walls project at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, recognizing her significant contributions.