Virginia Apgar

Baby Examiner

The first score on our record is written down the minute we are born, and again five minutes after our birth. The Apgar score is a test that is currently applied to all babies. It consists of five “questions” and each one is “worth” two points. We must get at least seven points to be considered as having a normal state of health.

The word Apgar is not just the surname of the first woman to become Full Professor at Columbia University, but it is also an acronym for the five aspects assessed:
Appearance
Pulse
Grimace
Activity
Respiration

Virginia Apgar never felt it necessary to take a feminist stance. She always thought that “women are free from the time they leave the womb.”