Lombard - Adventures of a Grenfell nurse

Introduction

The Seed is Planted

Like other children of the 1930s, I read about the adventures of Sir Wilfred Grenfell, who worked among fishermen in a very cold, icy place way up north called Newfoundland and Labrador. I still have my copy of his book Forty Years for Labrador , which was published in 1932 with the memorable story Adrift on a Pan of Ice. To me, at that young age, this was exciting stuff, but it soon became buried somewhere in my subconscious. Another reminder of that esteemed man happened as a result of my stamp-collecting hobby, which was begun at age twelve. In 1941, a beautiful, blue, eye-catching Newfoundland stamp was issued with a picture of Sir Wilfred looking off in the distance toward his medical service vessel Maraval from the bridge of the hospital ship Strathcona II . The seed was germinating.

It was many years later, during my student-nursing days at Columbia-Presbyterian, that I really learned what the Grenfell Mission was all about. Our junior class (as per tradition) was assigned to devise and carry out a bazaar from which the proceeds would be donated to a worthy cause of our choice. Our dean had known nurses and doctors who had served in an organization called the Grenfell Mission. She casually dropped this name as one we might want to consider, and after some research, we did decide to have it be our recipient. The bazaar was a great success, netting $1,800, and it was my privilege, as a class officer, to deliver the cheque to the secretary of the New York branch of the International Grenfell Association (as it was then titled). I could easily detect that she was enthusiastic about her job and the work being done in Newfoundland. She told me about the people and showed me slides of Dr. Thomas on his medical rounds in the community. I was intrigued at the thought of, someday, using my nursing skills there and added this information to my memory bank.

After graduating in 1951, I remained at the medical centre for another year of nursing experience. In that time, I had gotten tired of the large city and yearned for a more adventurous working environment. Those earlier seeds about the Grenfell persona had sprouted. In the summer of 1952, I met again with the IGA secretary and signed up as an assistant nurse in St. Anthony. The seed that had been planted so many years before had finally blossomed and would lead me to great adventures.

Part I

The Setting Subarctic Newfoundland and Labrador

Sir Wilfred Grenfell founded the Grenfell Mission in northern Newfoundland and Labrador in 1892 as a medical service to the people in the isolated part of the north that at that time was a colony of England. As late as my own time there (19521954), no roads connected that area to the southern, more populated part of the island. In addition to the Newfoundlanders, many Inuit (Eskimo) and Innu patients came from The Labrador for medical care. The primary means of transportation in the summer was by boat and dogsled in the winter. Air travel for patient care was still in its infancy. One lone caterpillar-traction snowmobile had arrived for the purpose of transporting huge cans of milk from the Mission dairy barn to the hospital.

My applicants information brochure contained, among other things, the following:

The climate is rugged and variable. During the long winters the harbours are frozen and there is deep snow. In the coastal regions, winters are severe, there is considerable fog in summer, but the weather is bracing, with some warm days. Up the bays, the climate is dryer and somewhat milder, and summer days can be occasionally quite warm.

Living conditions are comfortable at all Grenfell stations. Diet is adequate, though not varied.

Hospitals: St. Anthony, 80 beds, 2 annexes, 44 beds; North West River, 17 beds; Harrington, 21 beds; Cartwright, 20 beds.

Nursing Stations: Mutton Bay, Forteau, St. Marys River, Spotted Islands (summer), Flowers Cove, and Canada Bay.

Ships: Maraval , a 75 ft. hospital ship travelling the area in summer; Nellie A. Cluett, a 134 ft. freighter supplying all stations from Canadian ports.

Annual Starting Salaries: Medical doctor in charge$2,500, travel and board, depending on experience; Nurse in charge of Station$900, travel and board ($1,050 at St. Anthony); Assistant Nurses$750, travel and board.

The work, covering approximately 1,200 miles, is divided into 4 medical districts. Hospitals are located at key points, with nursing stations interspersed at isolated places.