Doc Ing
Hay |
Ing Hay (1862-1952) was born in Xiaping Village, Taishan County, Guangdong Province, China. Better known as Doc Hay, he was a highly revered physician and historical figure of his time. He came to the US with his father shortly after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed.
Photo from: the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)
Doc Hay grew up learning Chinese herbal medicine from his family lineage but he furthered his studies once he settled in John Day with a Chinese physician by the name of Doc Lee. Doc Lee passed on his herbal knowledge and textbooks to Doc Hay before Hay sought out to open his own apothecary. His exceptional skills as a herbal practitioner earned him the respect and admiration of a well known Chinese businessman named Lung On. Together they opened an apothecary and general store, Kam Wah Chung and Co.
Doc Hay started out treating the local Chinese community but his reputation for healing people quickly began to extend into other communities. His scope of treatment proved invaluable at a time when flu pandemics, STDs, Typhus and other infectious diseases did not have successful parallels in Western medicine. Similar to Dr. Ah Fong Chuck, Doc Hay treated people of all backgrounds during a time when most non-white people did not have the same access to western medicine as white people did.
Ing Hay was reported to the AMA multiple times for practicing without a license but his reputation kept him safe enough to have the charges dropped each time.
Kam Wah Chung and Co. is designated as a national historic site in John Day Oregon. In the museum, there is replica of his apothecary.
Doc Hay practiced medicine until 1948 only a few years after he went completely blind and his nephew joined the practice to help him keep going.
In a fortuitous turn of events, Doc Hay’s grandnephew became the president of the AMA in 2014.
Friends of Kam Wah Chung website (book sample)