District doctor C.M. Schou (December 28, 1819 – March 18, 1895) managed to become a popular doctor in the Skive region during a 42-year-long career. He was also elected to the city council for a long period, and later became a Knight of the Dannebrog!
From the brig “Ørnen” to the only doctor in Skiveegnen with many titles
Doctor Carl Martinus Schou was born in Randers. He took his medical degree in 1847, after which he was acting staff doctor on the brig “Ørnen”.
In 1853-1854 he established himself as a doctor in Skive. He was the only practicing doctor in the Skive region until 1868, when a doctor was established in Vihøj in Salling. There was plenty for a doctor to do! In addition to a large private practice, he was for a number of years the sickness fund doctor for Håndværkssvendenes Sygekasse in Skive (until 1867). In 1854, Skive City and Viborg County Hospital opened in Sønderbyen in Skive, where Schou was employed as a hospital doctor. In 1862, he was appointed district physician (kredslæge) in Salling. From 1869 to 1884 he was also a railway doctor. In 1861 he was elected to Skive City Council, where he served until 1873. In 1885 he was appointed Knight of the Dannebrog.
The great practice
Roads in Salling and Fjends
As the only doctor in the area, he had a very large practice around Skiveegnen. He traveled the roads in Salling and Fjends day and night. Transportation took place on the rigid spring wagons of the time. Dr. Schou had his own doctor’s chair, which was strapped to the wagon so that it could move and rock, and here Dr. Schou sat dangling on the often very bad roads in all kinds of weather.
The family doctor
Wealthy families used Dr. Schou as their family doctor. Senior lawyer C.V. Borch Jacobsen says that the fee was 30 kroner a year. The household consisted of two adults and eight children. Dr. Schou often came to check on the family, even when there was no illness. The house visits usually took place in the morning, and if there was time, he brought his morning coffee. If there was a serious illness, he came several times a day to check on the patient.
The hospital doctor
Schou was employed as a hospital doctor at the hospital in Skive when it opened in 1854. Besides him, there was only a deacon and a nurse on duty. In 1882, in addition to Schou, there were three deaconesses, a man, two nurses, two girls and an accountant. There were only a few patients, and those who were, were usually compulsory hospitalized under the Epidemic Act. According to the hospital’s statutes, inmates whose stay was paid for by the Poor Law had to have the prospect of being cured. If the disease was incurable, the hospital could refuse to admit a patient. A study of patients at the hospital in 1882 shows that the patients belonged to the poorer part of the population. The more affluent, like the Jacobsen family, had a family doctor and were treated at home.
A hospital for the poor?
New hospital in 1888
There was great skepticism among the population towards the hospital, which was almost considered a poorhouse. This attitude only changed when a new hospital was completed at Resenvej in 1888. Schou also became a hospital doctor here, while continuing to work as a general practitioner and district doctor. From 1888 to 1895, the number of sick days (the number of days patients are hospitalized) tripled, which is perhaps one of the reasons why Schou resigned as hospital doctor in 1893 (at the age of 74!). It wasn’t until 1898 that the hospital got a full-time doctor.
The human doctor
C.M. Schou died of pneumonia. C.V. Borch Jacobsen says that Schou knew that he was heading for death. Before he died, he went through his account books with one of his sons, and when they came to someone who was in bad shape, Schou said: “Cross him out”.
The obituary
Schou was a beloved doctor. This is expressed in an obituary in Skive Folkeblad the day after his death: “Old Doctor Schou was known by everyone in the area, both large and small, and loved like few doctors. He was to a rare degree energetic, sacrificial and selfless. Day after day and night after night, he would drive to visit patients in the countryside, and yet, in the short intervals between his trips, he could find time to run his considerable practice in Skive town. Many will miss Dr. Schou, especially little people. Throughout the 42 years he has worked in the area, he has become closely linked to the local population, and many poor people have told of how he has been gentle with them in terms of payment for medical care, and the truly needy never went to him for help in vain.”
The memorial at Skive Cemetery
After his death, friends and former patients collected money for a memorial to him. A large tree of life was placed on his grave in October 1895. Skive Folkeblad reports on October 17, 1895: “A monument to District Doctor Schou’s grave was transported yesterday from the harbor to Skive Cemetery. It is of Bornholm granite and shaped like an oak trunk, over four cubits high and weighs just over 6,000 pounds. The beautiful and substantial monument was supplied by “De forenede Granitbrud” on Bornholm. Friends of the late esteemed district physician place this memorial stone on his grave.”
Sources:
- Svend Mortensen: Da Dr. Schou var egnens eneste læge. In: Skiveegnens Jul ’89, p. 4-8.
- Henrik Teisen and Gert Pedersen: The first hospital in Skive. In: Skivebogen 1985, p. 5-10.
- Henrik Teisen and Gert Pedersen: Patient clientele at provincial hospital 1882. In: Skivebogen 1985, p. 11-20.