She had previously been the supervisor or "rectoress" of an orphanage in A Coruña, and her role on the expedition was to take care of the group of 22, later 26, small orphan boys who carried the virus from which the vaccine was prepared.[2]
The three-year expedition aimed to vaccinate millions of people against smallpox, and had the support of king Charles IV of Spain whose daughter had died of the disease.
Her name has been spelled in some 30 different ways including Isabel Sendales y Gómez, Isabel López Gandalia, Ysabel Gómez Sandalla and Isabel Cendala y Gómez. A street in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain was initially named Calle Isabel Lopez Gandalia in her honour. This name was changed in 2017 to Calle Isabel Zendal Gómez as a more accurate version of the name.[3]
Recognition
In 1950 the World Health Organization recognised her as the first nurse in history to take part in an international mission.[4]
Julia Alvarez's novel Saving the World (2006, Algonquin Books Шаблон:ISBN) draws on Zendal's experience on the expedition.[5][6]
In 2018 Spanish pharmaceutical group CZ Veterinaria renamed itself Zendal in honor to Isabel Zendal.[7]
