Dr. Epler First Female Doctor Appointed for Coast Guard, June 22, 1923

A Woman Doctor for Hatteras Stations. . . Only One in the Service is Miss Blanch N. Epler Who Was Recently Appointed

On April 13, this newspaper carried the story of the visit to Elizabeth City of Miss Blanch N. Epler, a woman physician of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who was on her way to Hatteras, with a view to locating there permanently, if she liked the place. She evidently likes Hatteras, for a recent news dispatch from Washington has this to say:

“North Carolina is to have the only woman physician for Coast Guard duty so far as is known, Coast Guard records telling of no other woman being assigned to such duty. This woman physician is Dr. Blanch N. Epler, residing at Hatteras, Dare County, the announcement being made that Dr. Epler has been appointed by the United States Public Health Service as a contract physician to furnish professional services to Cost Guard stations Numbers 181 to 185 exclusive. It is stated by the Public Health Service, in announcing the appointment, that Dr. Epler was chosen for the work after she had proved that she was fitted to meet the requirements of the post and had been recommended for the duty by the local district Superintendent of the coast Guard.”

Telling of this woman physician of North Carolina called into a service not hitherto assigned to women, the Public Health Service, in its announcement of the appointment says:

“Dr. Epler is engaged in private practice among the inhabitants of this somewhat isolated and exposed region. She will be prepared to respond to any time, day or night, to calls arising out of any serious accidents happening to Coast Guardsmen in the court of their arduous tasks. She will also conduct the visual and other physical examinations of applicants for admission to the Coast Guard Service at the stations under her medical supervision.”

From page 2 of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, June 22, 1923