Nationality Switzerland | ||
Born 1892 Baden, Switzerland Died 8 September 1972, Beinwil (Freiamt), Switzerland | ||
Barbara Borsinger (1892 - 1973) was a nurse, from Baden, Switzerland (Aargau), active during World War I and ≤World War II in welcoming children, refugees, injured civilians and victims of the World Wars. She founded the Nursery of the Friends of Children's Charity which later became known as the Clinique des Grangettes, now a private hospital.
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Early life
Barbara Borsinger was born in 1892 in Baden, Switzerland to a Catholic family in the hotel business. As a child, with her sister Verena-Hildegarde, she attended a boarding school in Riedenburg. She continued her education at the Sacred Heart Church on the Isle of Wight, in Great-Britain. Between 1911 and 1914, she studied to become a nurse in Geneva, at the school of Bon-Secours, à Genève. When World War I was declared, she volunteered to help the wounded on the French front lines. She then served as the chief nurse, at the Dinard Hospital until 1920.
Career
In 1918, the pandemic flu spread in Europe, Geneva was not spared, and Barbara Borsinger was deeply affected by the fate of sick children and orphans. She was able to estimate the need for training and reception centers. Back in Geneva, she founded in Carouge, near Genève, the Nursery of the Friends of Children's Charity which was dedicated to welcoming children victims of the pandemic, and training nurses to take care of them. These nurses gained the nickname of 'petites bleues,' meaning 'little blues,' as a reference to the color of their uniforms.
In 1920, the nursery and the nurse training school were transferred to Malagnou, then in Clos Belmont, and finally to the countryside near Grange-Canal at the outskirts of Geneva. The institution extended its services to adults, and Barbara Borsinger in 1933 started to build a modern private hospital. Nicknamed "La Poup," these institutions later became the Clinique des Grangettes, and it is still active in 2016.
World War II
In 1943, during the 50th anniversary of the hospital, Barbara Borsinger estimated that 6000 babies who had been in her institution between 1918 and 1943 had been cared for by 1280 nurses and children workers trained by Borsinger. During the World War II, as during the First World War, the nursery welcomed many refugees. A contemporary article recalls children seen sneaking through the frontier under barbed wire with a notice around their necks reading: "nursery of Grange-Canal".
Social Engagement
Barbara Borsinger directs the institution in collaboration with two female doctors, Viola von Riederer and Bianca Stiegler, as well as the pediatricians Albert Mégevand and Fred Bamatter. She was acquainted with the writer Robert Musil.
Retirement
At 66, Barbara Borsinger retired in 1968 for health issues, having smoked many Turmac (cigarettes) and ritually drinking her glass of Porto after mass. She gave her institution to the sisters of Menzingen, which had directed the hospital since 1957. The sisters decided, however, to concentrate their work outside of Europe and they sold the hospital to a group of radiologists in 1978.
Barbara Borsinger died on August 9, 1972, in Horben castle, in Aargau. Borsinger received for her work during World War I the Medal of French Gratitude and she was made a Lady of the Order of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.