St. Joseph's Colony - The Influenza Epidemic of 1918

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      The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
      By Rev. Edw. J. Dinsley

      "An overall impression of impending gloom."

      In the fall of 1918 the influenza epidemic in the prairie districts resulted in traumatic experiences of most people. I would believe that at least five percent of the Wilkie district population died because of the extensive and intensive onset of the disease.

      There was no hospital in Wilkie in those days. The lone doctor in the community, Dr. R.A. McLurg, was very busy making house calls to the dozens of patients who were in bed with the flu. Finally, the doctor came down with the disease himself. The Methodist minister attempted to substitue for the doctor by visiting the many homes with influenza patients to take temperatures and to report abnormal conditions to the doctor.

      There were so many children not attending school that the school was closed and turned into a temporary hospital. Those residents who were well enough to be able to go out on the streets to shop for their groceries usually wore a gauze mask which covered mouth and nose. The mask was impregnated with a camphorous medication intended to reduce the risk of germ-spreading while communicating with others. At one stage during the epidemic, there was talk of the imposition of a penalty on anyone appearing in public places without a mask.

      Terms like "ominous" and "bizarre" might have been used in attempting to describe the eeriness of the fateful period. Just imagine going to bed in the evening not knowing who in the household might not be alive at dawn. A person would wake each morning with melancholy wonderings as to who in the neighbourhood might have passed away during the night. From nearby cities, stories were heard about coffins in piles awaiting burial by a dwindling group of grave-diggers.

      Along with all of these realistic aspects of the epidemic society cowered under a threatening mystery: the enigmatic sensation that the war enermy had furtively "planted" the influenza germs on this continent. I do no think that "germicidal warfare" had yet become a public concept in 1918.

      In my own home, each member of the family was in bed with the illness. It seemed to take about ten days for one to recover and to regain strength. Any sick family in the community usually depended upon kind neighbours who regularly brought in hot soup and cooked meals. Friendly neighbours also took responsibility for sufficient fuel supply in the houses -- kinding wood and coal. In our prairie history, this illustrated another occasion when a true spirit of love shone forth, where wonderful friends extended themselves to care for those who were less fortunate.

      For some influenza patients, the prescribed medicine brought about horrible nightmares. In my own case, I remember each gray November afternoon when I would dread the approach of nightfall with prospects of yet another long dark night of frightening dreams.

      During the length of the epidemic, there was a temporary erosion of spirit, and there was bereavement of the loss of family members. However, the weeks proceeded in a disjointed sort of way until Christmas arrived and then the New Year's season seemed to somehow begin to point the way toward normalcy again. With the November termination of four years of war, and then the finish of the destructive epidemic, the dawn of the year 1919 was welcomed with some little hope and with some aspirational thoughts for enhanced political status and improved medical welfare for all people.

      A Harvest of Memories
      A History of Rural Wilkie


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      Last Updated: Sunday, February 10, 2002

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