Ida Scott was an American, born in 1873, who was a medical missionary with the Reformed Presbyterian Church Mission in South China.
She graduated from Geneva College, Pennsylvania, a Christian college with a strong emphasis on faith and service, comprehensive academics, and professional accreditations; she gained medical qualifications from Hahneman Medical College in Philadelphia.
She then served several years in the RPCNA Indian Mission in Oklahoma, where she met sisters Kate and Jean McBurney and the three of them decided to serve as missionaries in China. The McBurneys went out in 1903.
Dr Ida Scott joined them in 1907 and they all served in Tak Hing. That same year, the three of them, like a number of other missionaries at the time, became the joint owners of a holiday villa on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, House #2, which they owned until 1925.
Dr. Scott was stationed full-time at Gregg Memorial Hospital in Tak Hing. This hospital flourished, attracting many locals. Some, unable to afford better medical care in Hong Kong or Guangzhou, heard of the hospital's reputation and made the pilgrimage to Tak Hing.
In 1911 she left the field to care for her ageing parents. After their deaths she moved to Cecil Township in Western Pennsylvania, where she was a school doctor, Red Cross worker, nurse and general friend to anyone who needed her help.
In 1937, following an urgent appeal from the RPCNA Foreign Mission Board for a physician to serve in the China mission, Dr Scott volunteered her services. Her commitment to the mission continued until 1949, except for a period of interruption caused by World War II. During this time, Dr Scott's work alternated between Tak Hing and Lo Ting, where she provided vital medical care to the communities she served.
During this time, she may well have continued to vacation on Cheung Chau but not in her own villa.
She will be especially remembered for her work after World War II when, as the only mission doctor in the field, she treated hundreds of refugees, homeless orphans, and starving babies.
In 1949, when the Communist armies were taking over the South China field, she left for America.
She entered the Reformed Presbyterian Home in Pittsburgh in September 1953, where she spent her remaining years.
She passed away in 1955, aged 82.
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Comments
Letters from Ida Scott in RPCNA magazine Olive Trees.
Member 9A2W3716 posted this in the European Reservation topic from the 1909 Olive Trees magazine:
P.274
"letter from Dr. Ida M. Scott, dated Sept. 22, 1909: In company with Dr. Wright and family I returned from Macao to Tak Hing last Saturday. Miss Dean had the opportunity of staying with Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Robb at Cheung Chau for a week longer, and we urged her to do so, for we think a week of the good bathing and bracing air at Cheung Chau worth several weeks at Macao. I hope next year we can all go there. I think the month at Cheung Chau last year was really more helpful than two at Macao this year, on account of the air being so much better. There is very little salt in the water at Macao—sometimes none at all. There has been no illness among our people this summer to cause anxiety, and Dr. Wright says he had the best vacation he ever had in China."
1910 Olive Trees:
P.226
"Writing from Cheung Chau, July 26, 1910, Dr. Ida M. Scott has something to say about the holidays:
The relaxation of a summer vacation is not conducive to interesting letter writing, although such a charming location ought to be an inspiration. You perhaps remember Cheung Chau is the place where we spent our vacation two years ago, and some of our number were here last year, too. It is a rocky little island, about ten miles from Hong Kong. ...
...The delightful breezes we have almost constantly are wonderfully refreshing after the heat we were experiencing two weeks preceding our departure from Tak Hing. At present there are nearly fifty missionaries and children on the island, and there will be more during August...."