Abu Dhabi, Jul. 20, 2008 (WAM) -- Dr. Marian Kennedy, who passed away on Thursday, July 17, at her home town of Carmichael, California, jointly opened with her husband, Pat Kennedy, the Oasis Hospital in Al-Ain in the early 1960s, in line with the wish of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Dr. Marian, who died at the age of 84, lived and worked in the UAE for about four decades, offering to the UAE people medical services at a time when the region lacked the most basic healthcare service. Through hard and selfless work and relentless efforts, Dr. Mirian and her husband were able to contribute immensely in bringing down during that time mortality rate to 50% among children and 35% among mothers. Before settling in the UAE, Dr Mirian has also served in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, where she built strong and passionate relations with the peoples in the region, thoroughly learnt and embraced their traditions and cultures and share with them their happiness and sorrows. Her generous contributions to the spreading of health culture among women in the region can not be overemphasised as Dr. Kennedy and her husband supervised the delivery of more than 4,000 babies at the Oasis Hospital. According to "the Oasis", authored by Gertrude Dyck, the late Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Sheikhbout realised the need for a hospital in Al ain, so they decided to ask the hospital in Muscat to send them a resident doctor as they had been impressed with the American hospitals in Muscat and Bahrain. Dr. Thoms, the head of the hospital in Muscat, recommended for them Dr. Pat Kennedy, who had worked in Iraq before 1958 and was presently working in Jordan. After contacting Dr. Kennedy and arranging a visit for him, Dr. Thoms came to Al Ain to introduce Dr. Kennedy in December 1959. A subsequent visit was arranged for them on November 20, 1960 during which they were made to choose a site for a hospital and for Dr. Kennedy to bring his wife, also a doctor, family and supplies to make preparation for the hospital. The Kennedys started work temporarily in a guest house, having being expanded with thatched roof made of palm fond to serve as temporary clinic until the new mother and child hospital was built at the current site of the Oasis Hospital. The hospital provided maternity healthcare services, including anti-natal, post-natal care and delivery services, with emphasis on healthcare guidance and counseling. The hospital moved to its current location in April 1963. The new hospital, which was then in a form of porta-cabins, remained so until October 1963 when it was razed by fire. It was rebuilt in mud bricks until the following year (1964) when the first building of cement blocks, consisting 20 rooms was built to include all the necessary sections of a maternity hospital, while the old building was maintained to serve as out-patient block. President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan had ordered the granting of AED135 million for the rebuilding of the Oasis Hospital into a modern edifice with state-of-the-art equipment and highly qualified medical, administrative and technical staff to run the hospital. In his recent inspection tour of the hospital, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was born at the Oasis Hospital, praised the hospital for the historic and leading roles it played over the past decades. Since its establishment, the hospital had so far supervised the delivery of more than 79,000 babies. In 2005, Marian received one of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Awards, presented by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was born at the Oasis Hospital. HH Shaikha Fatima bin Mubarak, President of the Family Development council and Chairperson of the General Women's Union, has sent condolence cable to the family of Dr. Kennedy on the latter's death. Shaikha Fatima expressed her profound and deep sorrow about the death of Dr Kennedy, who rendered diligent services during her service at Oasis Hospital, which she cofounded with her husband in 1960s, in Al Ain. "UAE nationals, particularly in Al Ain and Eastern region will always remember Dr Kennedy for her great medical services and healthcare. The deceased with her husband represent wonderful symbol of giving and love in the field of healthcare- a gesture shown by the UAE citizens in form of respect to the couple", Shaikha Fatima said in the cable in a glowing tribute to the late Dr. Kennedy. Born in Orland, California to Ernest and Margaret Chace, Dr. Marian (Miriam) Kennedy, a mother of four with a great sense of adventure, love for God and commitment to medical mission work, graduated from Orland High School in 1941, then UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Biochemistry 1945 and an M.A. in Physiology in 1946. Her love of science, enthusiasm for learning, and passionate commitment to community service combined to motivate her to attend medical school in Philadelphia, where she met and married a fellow medical student, Pat Kennedy.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.
