IDA M. CANNON: FOUNDER OF MEDICAL SOCIAL
WORK 1877-1960
by
Heather Miller, Writer and Editor
Ida
Cannon was responsible for establishing the first social work
department in a hospital in the United States. Convinced that
medical practice could not be effective without examining
the link between illness and the social conditions of the
patient, Cannon diligently worked at creating the field of
medical social work. During her long career, she worked as
a nurse, a student of sociology, a medical social worker,
Chair of Social Services at Massachusetts General Hospital,
author of a seminal book in the medical social work field,
consultant to hospitals and city administrations throughout
the United States, professor and designer of a training curriculum
for medical social workers. Cannon saw the emergence of medical
social work as part of the Progressive movement, because it
sought to humanize medical practice.
She was born in Milwaukee, the
third of four children of Colbert Cannon, an official of the
Great Northern Railroad and his wife, Wilma, who died when
Ida was four. She attended St. Paul High School before beginning
her nursing education at the City and County Hospital in St.
Paul. After working as a nurse for two years, she began studies
in sociology at the University of Minnesota. It was there
that Cannon heard a lecture given by Jane Addams about the
living conditions of the poor that would change her life.
Her three subsequent years as a visiting nurse for the St.
Paul Associated Charities deepened her understanding of the
connections between poverty, occupation and disease.
Realizing the need for an education
in social work to add to her training and experience as a
nurse, Cannon enrolled in the Boston (Simmons) School of Social
Work. Needing a place to stay during her studies, she moved
into the Cambridge household of her brother, Walter Cannon,
and his family. It was a home in which she would remain for
the rest of her life, greatly enjoying her relationships with
her brother, his wife and their children. Walter Cannon may
have been his sister's original inspiration to study medicine.
He had attended Harvard Medical School when Ida was a child
and went on to become a world-renowned physiologist. It was
through her brother, Walter, that Cannon met Richard Clark
Cabot, who was developing a program in hospital social services
at Massachusetts General Hospital. This was to be the first
organized social work department in a hospital in United States
history.
Ida
Cannon began work in the social services department as a volunteer
and soon became the department's head worker. The department
operated as part of the hospital's outpatient clinic, dealing
with health and social issues as varied as unmarried pregnant
women and girls, children with orthopedic problems, tuberculosis,
and venereal disease. Patients at the clinic were often poor
immigrants who spoke little or no English. Cannon struggled
to ensure that they understood the nature of their illnesses
and prescriptions. With Cabot, Cannon systematically studied
patients presenting industrial diseases in Massachusetts General
Hospital. In 1915, Cannon was made chief of the Social Service
Department, a position she would hold for thirty years until
she retired in 1945. The outstanding success of the social
service department brought about its integration into the
inpatient services of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Ida
Cannon's work at Massachusetts General Hospital constituted
only a fraction of her professional commitments. Determined
that medical social work departments exist in every hospital,
Cannon traveled around the country giving speeches and meeting
hospital directors and staff.
In order to professionalize
medical social work, she developed a specialized training
program in conjunction with the Boston School of Social Work
and her own department at Massachusetts General Hospital.
This program led to the training Cannon felt every medical
social worker should have: a combination of medical and social
work expertise. She held a teaching position within the program
for the rest of her career and advised institutions and hospitals
around the country on how to create their own medical social
work departments and training programs.
Cannon authored the seminal
text of the medical social work field. Social Work in Hospitals:
A Contribution to Progressive Medicine became the first
comprehensive analysis of the development and principles of
the field. She produced a comprehensive report on her survey
of New York City's social service organizations and needs.
She helped to establish the
American Association of Hospital Social Workers and served
as president from 1920 to 1922. Cannon represented her profession
as a delegate to the White House Conference on Child Health
and Protection in 1930 and 1931. She declared in her deeds
and words that there should be within the hospital someone
definitely assigned to represent the patient's point of view
and to work out with the physician an adaptation of the medical
treatment in the light of the patient's social condition.
In
her desire to share her experience of medical social work,
Ida traveled extensively. During the 1930s she presented a
paper at the International Conference on Social Work in Frankfurt,
Germany and also attended the third International Conference
in London. International visitors came to learn at the Massachusetts
General Hospital Social Service Department. Her leadership
was likewise evident in her preparing others for leadership
in Chicago and Saint Louis as well as with the U.S. Children's
Bureau and in relation to other nations, including China and
Japan.
In 1938 social workers first began to include social summaries
in medical records. Beginning during World War II and growing
thereafter were weekly conferences between social workers
and physicians and nurses. Her speaking and writing for publication
continued to strengthen the development of social work as
a profession. The social aspects of illness were recognized
in ways which fostered teamwork in patient care. Ida Cannon
created a durable model of social work which has spread throughout
the world.
In recognition for her labors
in successfully building the medical social work field, she
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Boston
University and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from
the University of New Hampshire.
Ida Cannon lived until the age
of 80 when a stroke made it necessary for her to be cared
for in a nursing home in Watertown, Massachusetts. She died
there three years later. She was remembered by friends and
loved ones for her extraordinary warmth and generosity of
spirit.
Ida
Cannon was responsible for establishing the first social work
department in a hospital in the United States. Convinced that
medical practice could not be effective without examining
the link between illness and the social conditions of the
patient, Cannon diligently worked at creating the field of
medical social work. During her long career, she worked as
a nurse, a student of sociology, a medical social worker,
Chair of Social Services at Massachusetts General Hospital,
author of a seminal book in the medical social work field,
consultant to hospitals and city administrations throughout
the United States, professor and designer of a training curriculum
for medical social workers. Cannon saw the emergence of medical
social work as part of the Progressive movement, because it
sought to humanize medical practice. 
Ida
Cannon began work in the social services department as a volunteer
and soon became the department's head worker. The department
operated as part of the hospital's outpatient clinic, dealing
with health and social issues as varied as unmarried pregnant
women and girls, children with orthopedic problems, tuberculosis,
and venereal disease. Patients at the clinic were often poor
immigrants who spoke little or no English. Cannon struggled
to ensure that they understood the nature of their illnesses
and prescriptions. With Cabot, Cannon systematically studied
patients presenting industrial diseases in Massachusetts General
Hospital. In 1915, Cannon was made chief of the Social Service
Department, a position she would hold for thirty years until
she retired in 1945. The outstanding success of the social
service department brought about its integration into the
inpatient services of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Ida
Cannon's work at Massachusetts General Hospital constituted
only a fraction of her professional commitments. Determined
that medical social work departments exist in every hospital,
Cannon traveled around the country giving speeches and meeting
hospital directors and staff.
In
her desire to share her experience of medical social work,
Ida traveled extensively. During the 1930s she presented a
paper at the International Conference on Social Work in Frankfurt,
Germany and also attended the third International Conference
in London. International visitors came to learn at the Massachusetts
General Hospital Social Service Department. Her leadership
was likewise evident in her preparing others for leadership
in Chicago and Saint Louis as well as with the U.S. Children's
Bureau and in relation to other nations, including China and
Japan.