She established children's health care in Croats
Her commitment to the establishment of public medicine is immeasurable, and thanks to her, school medicine as we know it today was established.
Desanka Gjermanović was born on May 17, 1882 in Inđija. In 1912, she got a job in Petrinja, where she started working as an appointed teacher of lower elementary schools. Thus, at the Royal Boys' School, she trained in women's manual work and supervised all teacher trainees.
In 1911, she married doctor Stevan Ristović. After his untimely death, in June 1912, she moved to Innsbruck. Working as a teacher, Desanka became familiar with the poor conditions in Croatian schools, constantly meeting malnourished children with poor hygiene from poor families. So in 1914, she decided to study medicine. After graduating, she moved to Prague, where she successfully graduated in 1919.
After the approval of the Prague diploma at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, she received a license to practice medicine as a specialist in children's diseases. On August 20, 1922, by decision of the City Municipality, she received the right of residence in the city of Zagreb, which was a prerequisite for the permanent service of a district doctor.
Not long after that, she got a job at the Children's City Outpatient Clinic. She advocated for the establishment of school medicine, and with her own zeal she arrived at the State School Polyclinic on January 26, 1925, to the position of director.
Namely, as the city of Zagreb developed, so did the number of school children. And with the stay at school, the risk of infection increased. During the directorship of Desanka Ristović, the polyclinic provided health care for 14,337 high school students, which is twice as many as there were when the institution was founded. The number of visits and examinations of school children also doubled, and the institution grew.
Andrija Štampar, the pioneer of public health care in Croats, was in charge of Desanki. At the time when he was going on European and American tours, after his first wife Marija passed away, Andrija left his five children in the care of Desanka. In addition to being colleagues, Desanka was his faithful student and follower of the idea of the importance of public and accessible healthcare.
Going to the other side of the world was difficult for Andrija, but he had no choice since he was forbidden to work in the country.
Their exclusively professional relationship deepened through letters in which Desanka regularly informed him about events in Zagreb. Two and a half years later, after Andrija's return from China, on July 27, 1937, Desanka Ristović married Andrija Štampar. On the occasion of the wedding, the Yearbook of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts announced: "Dr. Andrija Štampar married his closest colleague, in whom he finds solid support in his future work."
The Second World War disrupted Desanka and Andrija's hard work for the promotion of public health care. Specialist clinics were closed, and specialist doctors were forced to leave their jobs due to ineligibility by the NDH authorities. One of them was Desanka Ristović Štampar, who was dismissed from service on July 1, 1941.
By leaving the service, Desanka did not abandon her work for the common good. Desanka participated in rescue operations for Serbian and Jewish children together with Dijana Budisavljević. Authors Hofgräff and Fatović - Ferenčić write that their "actions consisted of collecting and sending aid in the form of money, food, clothing and medicine to women and children detained in the Loborgrad, Gornja Rijeka, Stara Gradiška and Jasenovac camps, then extracting and transporting mothers and children from the camps, as well as fostering neglected camp children into Zagreb, Jastrebar and Sisak families, children's homes and hospitals for which they collected aid to ensure their support."
In addition, women kept a systematic and complex file with children's records, which made it possible to reunite them with their families. After the end of the war, Desanka returned to her old position. With great enthusiasm, she took on jobs that were neglected during the war. The operation of the polyclinic was re-established, and the student bathroom and canteen were also opened.
With her retirement, some of the activities that we believe were the key, not only to school medicine, but also to health educational work in general, stopped, the authors write. Namely, the student canteen was discontinued, the student bathroom stopped working, and hygiene lectures were also discontinued.
dr. Desanka Ristović Štampar, although insufficiently mentioned in comparison to her husband, was one of the champions of the fight for public health in Croats. Her commitment to the establishment of public medicine is immeasurable, and thanks to her, school medicine as we know it today was established.
Source: Hofgräff, D. and Fatović – Ferenčić, S. (2012). The role and contribution of Desanka Ristović Štampar (1882-1968) to the development of the school polyclinic in Zagreb (1925-1941). Annals of the Institute for Scientific and Artistic Work in Osijek, (28), 9-24. Retrieved from https://hrcak.srce.hr/109845
