1918-10-22Speeches

The public meeting to approve the formation of Women’s Volunteer Auxiliary to help meet the urgent need for nursing care in Hamilton because of the influenza epidemic was held in City Hall Council Chambers on October 21, 1918.

The meeting provided a means by which they could deliver important messages, not only to those in attendance, but to the public generally through newspaper reports on what was discussed.

Hamilton Mayor Booker, who had called the meeting, was the initial speaker :

“He stated that many reports were in circulation which were causing close to manic. He stated that one minister he knew made the assertion that there had 500 deaths in this city from ‘flu.’ He deprecated that sort of talk.¹

¹“100 Volunteer Nurses Soon Ready to Help : Hamilton Branch of Women’s Auxiliary Organized : Need of Nurses for Influenza Victims is Urgent”

Hamilton Herald.    October 22, 1918.

As the Spanish Influenza was entering its third week in Hamilton, with no immediate end, the medical health officer, Dr. Roberts, and all those connected with the board of health were utterly exhausted:

 “Dr. Roberts stated that the hospitals were full, and visitation of homes that were afflicted was the only course that could be pursued to advantage. He therefore went on record as being in favor of the forming of the auxiliary. He stated that with seven or eight nurses last week, over 300 visits had been made, and in some cases the stay lasted as long as 13 to 20 hours. He also admitted that the board of health was not in a position to meet its obligations so far as nursing was concerned.”

          There had been conflict between the Hamilton Board of Health and the doctors of the city. However, representing those doctors at the public meeting, Dr. Mullen was conciliatory:

“Dr. Mullin stated that confidence was necessary. ‘We must bear in mind that the board of health is doing a lot of work that the public find hard to appreciate.’

“He said : ‘The medical profession is, and will do its utmost to combat this epidemic. Twenty-five per cent of the doctors in this city have been hit with the ‘flu.’ Several of them have been very close to the great beyond, and Dr. Graham has passed away, a victim to it. He pointed out how the seriousness of epidemic had been demonstrated in the past two weeks by the advent of well over 6000 cases. He also laid emphasis on the necessity of caring for those who were afflicted and who were unable to be cared for in the hospital. The doctor laid great stress on the prevention of the disease, and announced that the incubation time of the germ was two to four days, and that a person could be infected for that period without any visible sickness or the disease making itself manifest. A mask was not an absolute protection, and it was his wish not to enforce people to wear them, as they would become careless with them, and thus cause the wearing of a mask to be dangerous.

“ ‘In quiet talk,’ the doctor continued, ‘germs from the nose and throat carry a distance of four feet away from the person, and loud talking, coughing and sneezing propel the germ at least ten feet. You can see how urgent it is that every precaution be taken, and that gatherings be refrained from. The best-organized health departments in America have almost fallen down in the battle against this epidemic, and should it gain a headway here the casualties would be appalling. There is no question but what the disease is being spread mostly by people who do not know they are infected. I do not think that people infected and people who are recovering cause very much spreading. There are cases on the wards that are exceedingly sick, and who die within a few hours of their hospital admittance. There is no better scheme to cope with the situation than this S.O.S. call

          “ ‘It must be impressed that after the temperature is again normal that it is necessary to stay in bed at least three days. A strange thing in this disease is that the majority of those who die have had partial recoveries, and gotten up before it was time. Those who do always have a relapse, and many of them prove fatal. Inflammation of the lungs sets in, and with this complication that at once become a serious case. Hamilton has made a name for itself in matters of finance, but I contend that this is far more important than any Victory loan yet launched.”¹