Mother Isabel

Isabel Antella was an Estarian woman alive from 1697 to 1802 SE. She is venerated as an Atovist saint for here charitable work in medicine and is credited for standardizing ethical practices in the field of medicine.

Synopsis

Early Life

Isabel was born to a wealthy family in Solgrad during the tail end of the War of the Gates. She grew to adulthood under the reign of King Eiknir the Great where during her early adult years, she saw the suffering and injured first hand from the costly Sunrise War.
From an early age, Isabel was educated in writing, mathematics, and medicine so she could become a Sage Mother. By the time she was nineteen, she was entrusted with a small congregation in the hamlet of Steeplegate, north of Solgrad.

Medical Career

In the summer of 1721, she volunteered as a physician's assistant in Fort Bluebrook, south of Hedgewall, where she treated soldiers from the Sunrise War too heavily injured to be treated at the front lines. This was where she witnessed first-hand the inadequacies of eighteenth-century Estarian medicine, and was allegedly appauled by the conditions the men were forced to suffer.
At this time, there were no standardized medical practices in Estaria, no oath for medical professionals to take, and no required education for one to be called a doctor. This was, and still is, worsened by the Six Pillars medical theory, which caused constant mis-diagnosis and unncessary treatment. While working as a wartime nurse, Isabel witnessed mistreated infections, unnecessary amputations, alcohol poisoning and septis from ineffective and harmful medicine, and other preventable deaths from unsanitary conditions and neglect. It became her life's pursuit to prevent that type of medical malpractice and suffering.

Early Attempts

Upon returning to Solgrad in 1723, Isabel continued her career in priesthood, becoming a Sage Mother in 1724 at twenety-seven years of age. She spent her final years of study on learning all that medical science had to offer. Her first act as Sage Mother was to open a house of healing in Steeplegate, near her first parish. The healing house, dubbed "Mother Isabel's Sanctum for Weak Persons and the Infirmed," is considered the first "modern hospital" in Vildrel. Before this, what would be called a hospital were typically sleeping houses for travellers that couldn't afford other accomodations. The sick would also be taken to these hospitals, but receive little to no care.
Isabel's hospital was different. She offered premium pay to a small staff of doctors and surgeons who could prove that they had adequate experience and education, and take an oath on The Eulogy that they would hold themselves to the highest standards and "cause no suffering."
Her healing house was clean, and had a fifty percent reduced mortality rate when compared to other sick houses in the region. Still, it would be two decades before her efforts were recognized.

Later Recognition

In 1747, King Morlan II's granddaughter, princess Victoria Eiknir, fell ill with a life threatening resperatory infection, and was taken to Isabel's hospital for care. Isabel is said to have personally tended to the young princess, and she made a miraculous recovery. The king was personally impressed with the speed and quality of his granddaughter's care, and invited Isabel to speak before Estaria's brand new parliament about her methods and standards.
The parliament drafted a series of laws based on Mother Isabel's testimony. Estarian doctors and surgeons, for the first time, required minimum schooling before receiving a liscence to practice, and could have their status revoked in cases of malpractice. The parliament also required a "status of decomodity" for medical knowledge, forcing Estarian universities to share medical discoveries to other academics.

Sainthood

"So easy it is to measure the cost in lives of war and famine - But aside that evil arithmetic is a woman whose influence is lives saved, immeasurable - Mother Isabel." - Sammuel Burke, Theologian

Isabel's newfound fame allowed her to expand her practice where she was contracted to oversee the administration of three new hospitals in Solgrad. During the mid eighteenth century, she introduced the , which has since become a tradition in Estarian medicine.
In 1752, the Solgrad Assembly of Atovist Bishops declaired Isabel a saint, solidifying her legacy for centuries to come. By this point, she was fifty-five years old, and would continue her work for the next fifty years. She was one of the first Estarians to document the trend of increasing human lifespans that began around this time, detailed in her hybrid autobiography/medical journal, Wizened Bones and Other Self-Observations - The Study of Saint Isabel, which she published in 1798 SE.

Legacy

Mother Isabel is a venerated historical figure in Estaria. Though most people outside of medical and theological study don't know the details of her historical accomplishments, her reputation as a sanctified healer has infiltrated the cultural zeitgeist to the point that every Estarian has at least heard her name. Ironically, her name is often uttered in profanities and rude phrases for shock value due to her being the most widely known symbol of purity and the orthodoxy establishment.
There is a small park and stone statue in Solgrad made in her honor, which was constructed in 1854 SE.