News and Press Releases

Ruth Cowin - Social Work Pioneer, 1911 - 2005
We Were Proud to Be "Ruth's Girls."

Focus, newsletter of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers
May 2005
by Susan Kottler, LICSW

"You can be a social worker anywhere." This was Ruth Cowin's reply when a member of the Cambridge Hospital social work staff complained about an office in a former men's room that had no phone. Ruth added, "I would be at the Martha Eliot (Health Clinic) and I'd line my dimes up at the pay phone and make all my calls. Work with what you have."

This was good advice from a social worker who had begun her career in the midst of the Great Depression in 1934. Ruth was a personable woman with great drive, energy, and intelligence who worked at Peter Ben Brigham, Children's, and Salem Hospitals in the early days of medical social work, when public health and social work principles were first being integrated into medical practice.

At that time, doctors and nurses were unsure of the role of social work, and Ruth was once relegated to writing down the names and addresses of mothers bringing children to a health clinic. Where others might see limitation, Ruth saw opportunity. She quickly identified the needs of the mothers as they arrived for medical appointments, and began running child guidance groups for them.

Ruth was part of the mental health team that worked with survivors and families in the aftermath of the Cocoanut Grove fire in 1941, contributing to the development of the literature on grief work and crisis intervention. In the 1960s she became the head of social services at the Harvard School of Public Health's Bromley-Heath Clinic in Roxbury, where she did pioneering work in the neighborhood health center movement. Then, in 1970, the Commissioner of Health and Hospitals in Cambridge recruited her to bring the practice of social work to Cambridge Hospital.

When she arrived at Cambridge Hospital, Ruth found a department consisting of two social workers and a secretary. In the following five years, those of us who had the privilege of being "Ruth's girls" watched her create a vibrant Department of Social Services, with social workers placed on all the medical services, in psychiatry and substance abuse, geriatrics, and in community clinics.

A list of Ruth's accomplishments can't begin to convey the experience of knowing Ruth Cowin, a woman remembered fondly and vividly by those who worked under her more than a quarter century ago. She was a unique individual. In the drama of administrative life in a public hospital, she had a certain elegance, and a presence that enabled her to get things done against considerable odds. One enduring memory is of Ruth table-hopping in the cafeteria, touching bases with physicians, nurses, and administrators, laughing and chatting while decidedly pursuing her own goals through networking and relationship building. She believed in understanding the hospital as a host environment and was a master at discerning the motivations of others. She would listen carefully, figuring out others' thoughts, concerns, and worries, then use what she had surmised to further her social work agenda.

With her characteristic "Do you see..." she would launch into a pleasant but hard-nosed negotiation, exhibiting such logic and determination that it was almost impossible to disagree with her. "Do you see," she might say at the end of an exposition justifying her request for funds for an additional social worker, "Do you see, hiring another social worker would save money for the hospital by freeing up physician time." She made you want to go her way. She was neither egotistical nor argumentative, but was constantly focused on enhancing social work practice in a hospital setting. It was as if she knew she was right, but gave you the benefit of the doubt, so that if you listened to her long enough, you'd get it right, too.

Ruth did not aim to change the world, but she tried her best to make life better for many people. She insisted on 100 per cent case review on the medical floors, and introduced her staff to medical rounds. Medical personnel no longer wondered about the role of social work, because they saw social workers in action continually. The work of the hospital became more efficient and team-oriented. Ruth was particularly focused on maternal and child health, and urged her workers to intervene in the life of any mother in poverty, to "put a floor under childbearing years," that is, to supply information, support, and resources to enable women to live more planned and less chaotic lives.

It was her determination that led Ruth to the Windsor Tap. One afternoon an emergency room case was faltering; the father of the young child involved was missing and presumed to be at the bar. While hospital personnel stood around wondering what to do, Ruth got into her car, drove to the Tap, found the father, and brought him back to the emergency room for a speedy resolution of the case.

In addition to this foray into the community, Ruth believed strongly in the use of social work to influence the course of community services and assigned her staff to committees, including an earl inter-agency committee tackling problems of the elderly. This committee went on to create one of the first home health care agencies in Massachusetts, and to being as a demonstration project one of the first adult day health centers in the country.

She understood that some segments of the population mistrusted hospitals, seeing them as places where people go to die. In an innovation to increase the reach of health care, Ruth assigned her workers to community health clinics "in the field, so that they could "meet people where they are." There are now about 20 neighborhood health centers in Cambridge and Somerville, all with social work input.

It's no wonder that Cambridge Hospital social workers felt empowered. Ruth elevated social work and made it something to aspire to. She made us proud to be social workers and supported each of us in finding our own voice in an era when women in professional positions were rare. She taught us public health principles that we have never forgotten, such as the need to find "the gap" in service, in knowledge, in practice, and to fill it.

Following her retirement, Ruth worked with the Boston University of School of Social Work and was instrumental in establishing their joint MSW-MPH degree program. In he later years, in the 1990s, Ruth became aware of the problem of elder homelessness and set about to fill yet another gap. She was one of the founders of the Committee to End Elder Homelessness, and worked with that group to renovate a nine unit building to house homeless elders in Brookline. In her honor the residence is named the Ruth Cowin House.

Ruth Cowin died in February 2005, a month short of her ninety-fourth birthday. We remember her as a woman who led a full life. She shared her family's joys and tragedies with us, and listened to ours. She rejoiced in the triumphs of her staff, both professional and personal, and even played matchmaker for some. She was brilliant, dedicated, persevering, and unforgettable. Social work was her work, her life, her passion, and the passion was contagious.

Thanks to Nanette Hurtubise Glenny, Liz Tracy Greene, Anita Chanin Massery, and Deborah Parkhurst Urbelis for their recollections at a meeting on 3/20/05, and to so many others who supplied information.