I had a little
bird,
Its name was
Enza.
I opened the
window,
And in-flu-enza.
-A
children’s skipping rope chant from the 1918 flu epidemic
The
influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known
today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It
has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More
people died of influenza in a single year than in four years of the Black Death
Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La
Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.
My Grandmother, Sarah Lovina Stringam was the nurse in the tiny town of Glenwood,
Alberta. Called upon for everything from bruises and scrapes to severe frostbite, she became accepted as the hands and knowledge that made the
difference between life and death.
Then came 1918. The Great and horrible war was
finally winding down.
The Spanish Flu epidemic was just getting started . . .
From her journals and in her own words, Grandma
gives us quite a glimpse of her life at that time:
“I did quite a
bit of nursing during the year of the flu epidemic, both for the family and for
the neighbours. It was frightening
because there were so many deaths, especially women who were pregnant.
One
of our hired men was the first to have it at our house. I kept him in his room
and wouldn’t let him out until he was over it. My husband took it next and I
kept him isolated from the rest of the family until he was well. He was just
over it when Lono Brown, one of our friends, came to see if I would help him
with his wife.
Lono’s
first wife had died a few years before, leaving him with two small boys. He had
married a young widow from Utah with two small girls. They had been married less
than a year.
I
told him, when he came for me, that I was still nursing a baby and would have
to come home every four or five hours for that.
There
was only one telephone in Glenwood, a toll office at the home of Edward
Leavitt. He took me to the telephone and we talked to the doctor.
The
doctor was getting only two to four hours sleep a day and just couldn’t keep up
with all the calls. He told me what to do and said he could come as soon as he
could.
For
three days, I went to the Brown home and did what I could.
Every
few hours I would go home and drop my clothing into a box in our wash house to
fumigate them. Then I would change into clothing I kept in another box and go
into my home to nurse the baby and see how the household was managing.
Eldest
daughter, Emily was twelve at that time.
On
the fourth day, Sister Brown, who was six months pregnant started with labour
pains. By this time the doctor had come. He stayed for a while but it looked
like it would be some time before the baby came and there were other people needing
him so much so he decided he had better go.
Right
after he went it looked as if things were going to happen so I asked Lono to go
for a midwife, Sister Newby.
She
came and delivered the baby, who was stillborn.
She
said because she was a midwife she was not allowed to handle a dead body. She
told me how to wash and prepare the baby for burial and when I had finished,
she went home.
The
next few hours were hard. I kept praying that her [Mrs. Brown’s] life would be
spared because of the children and because she was so far away from her old
home and her people but she kept getting weaker and weaker.
She
died about six hours after the baby.
Sister
Newby came back and told me what to do to prepare her for burial.
I
did it and I was surprised that I was able to do it. It was a testimony to me
that you can receive divine guidance in time of need if you ask for it.”
What a truly heartbreaking and terrifying experience.
I admire my grandmother and others, like her, who simply ‘carried on’ and made
all the difference in their world.
Thank you.
As you said, heartbreaking and terrifying. Especially with a baby of her own.
ReplyDeleteAnd such a matter-of-fact recording of it all. The ones who came before us were made of stern stuff.
Wow. What a story. What a woman. I wonder if any of us, today, could carry on with such composure.
ReplyDeleteWhat a harrowing story! I just can't imagine how difficult life must have been in that time and then add sickness, it is almost crushing. Your Grand Mother was a hero!
ReplyDeleteYour grandmother was a very strong woman and this is carried through in yourself.
ReplyDeleteOne does what one has to do in times of trouble. She was an amazing woman.
ReplyDeletewe have no idea what living in those times was like do we? our little ups and downs pale into insignificance in comparison. what a story!
ReplyDelete