THE 1918 PANDEMIC: What Happened When the Flu Overwhelmed Humboldt’s Medical System? – Lost Coast Outpost

Volunteer Nurses at the Red Cross Hospital, AKA Northern California Hospital (National Archives)

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Do not call the doctors forinformation. They have just about all they can do without answeringunnecessary questions as to whether you may take your child to thedentist; whether a certain out of town school will be closed; andwhether the ice cream parlors are open.

TheHumboldt Times, 22 October 1918

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In July of 1918, two months after19-year-old Imogene Lockwood started her nursing training at theUnion Hospital in Eureka, she began a diary, realizing, she wrote,that the record would be invaluable when age and ease have made mypresent view of life no longer possible.

In early October of that year, Imogenewas still learning how to balance classes, training and patient carewhen two Austrian travelers staying in Eureka fell ill with SpanishFlu and quickly infected their rooming house hosts. The next day fivemore cases were identified, and infection spread rapidly in HumboldtCounty from there.

By mid-October, local nurses and evenstudents like Imogene were sick with the virus. The mayor of Eurekaurged citizens to report suspected cases and local papers publishedguidance on how to avoid an An Attack of Dread Influenza Germs.Local physician Charles Falk did the same, warning that the flu wasspread from person to person via very small droplets whichcould be spread by coughing or sneezing, forceful talking and more.Falk urged infected individuals to isolate and recommended that allnurses and attendants wear masks to protect themselves against thedisease.

Despite the warnings, local case countscontinued to rise, and area physicians grew frustrated, convincedarea citizens were failing to take the simple ordinary precautionsnecessary to avoid infection. On October 19, the State Board ofHealth moved to close all amusements including dances andmovies and local governments followed suit. Just the day before,Mrs. Ira Russ started building a list of individuals willing to helpHumboldts patients. The list was a precautionary measure,Russ reassured prospective volunteers, and the workload would belight.

Instead, patients were transferred fromoutlying areas to Eurekas hospital and the patient count quicklytopped 100, taxing nurses and doctors. Officials moved to limittransfers and dedicate the Northern California Hospital exclusivelyfor isolation of influenza cases, which would allow fewer nurses tocare for more patients in one location. The arrangement stalled,however, when hospital owner Dr. Falk demanded $1,000 a month for useof the empty facility because of its perfect condition. Falkdidnt care to have it filled with contagious disease butwould be willing to bend if the county could meet his price.

At this time, the local Red CrossCommittee on influenza assembled a corps of nurses and emergencyhousekeepers for homebound patients and when the office in SanFrancisco issued a call for Home Defense nurses, local officialsdenied them, as all were urgently needed here. Organizers alsoasked every woman available to help support overworked nurses.In response, Miss Helen Kramer ran errands in an auto and MissDorothy Notley provided emergency housekeeping and cooking. Othersserved as able and volunteer coordinator Mrs. Russ vowed to getassistance to every case possible which the doctors find in need.When called upon, at least twenty-five volunteers showed up at theRed Cross office to make flu masks.

On October 20, Dr. N H. Bright, presidentof the State Board of Healths predicted waning of the fluthe same day Humboldt County announced its first flu-relatedfatality, and in the next few days more local nurses and doctors fellill. The city of Eureka ordered those serving the public to wearmasks and officials reached an agreement to lease Falks hospital.Health Officer Dr. Mercer also urged small towns, lumber camps, andother centers of population to follow Scotia and Samoas lead inestablishing smaller, temporary flu hospitals in their communities torelieve the burden in Eureka.

The Red Cross drug store shut its doorsbecause all employees were sick and local doctors received word thatmedicine from San Francisco would not be coming due to high demand. Dr. Mercer begged community members to stop congregating in thedowntown districts.

As case counts grew, nurses like Imogenehad to fight their own fear of the virus. On October 23 after fallingill, Imogene admitted that she was almost a coward, andcontemplated giving up nursing so as to not ever hear of germsagain, but she conquered her fear and went back to work, only torelapse just two days later. To her diary she confessed that she waspretty frightened and feared her mother and her brother mightget sick. At that time, at least seven other nurses were also downwith the flu.

To help address the nursing shortage, theRed Cross, with Mrs. Russ in still charge, worked quickly to get theNorthern California Hospital up and running, outfitted with donatedlinens and furniture. Within days the facility had 23 cases and couldaccommodate more than 50. The kitchen was up and running and a numberof women throughout town were preparing and donating food. The countylibrarian managed the hospital office, the requests for assistancewere met with the heartiest cooperation and the women of Eurekawere finding more ways than those suggested to be ofassistance. When Anne Fenwick arrived from San Francisco to visither parents, she spent a full day driving a car for Red Crosshospital managers, running errands and collecting supplies, and waseven prepared to move patients if necessary.

By October 25, Eurekas officialsthought they glimpsed the end of the epidemic and attributed it tothe wearing of the masks and the splendid cooperation of thepeople in every way, but the number of cases being treated at theRed Cross hospital continued to rise. The hospital stopped admittingvisitors, but volunteers were still needed, and one thankful hospitalcommittee member noted that there seemed no limit to the responseof the citizens to help whenever difficulties arose.

On October 28, when only 20 new caseswere reported for the day, Dr. Wing expressed hope that infectionswere decreasing, believing that anti-flu masks had cut the sway ofthe malady short. To support this belief, Wing pointed to reportsfrom Mare Island, where nurses adopted masks early and with no otherprecautionary measures, not a single nurse fell ill.

Unfortunately, the number of casescontinued to fluctuate. Fortuna established an emergency hospital atthe Firemens Hall at Newberg and the Red Cross also took over alodging house to care for patients in Arcata.

Fatalities continued, and doctors andnurses felt the strain as they fought their fears and cared forpatients. On November 1, Imogene visited her mother but stayed on theporch, feeling like some sort of pestilence. Dr. Mercer,exhausted from overwork was forced to take time off and MissMurial MacFarlan, who took over as Acting Health officer when Dr.Mercer fell ill, suffered what was believed to be a nervous breakdowndue to overwork.

Union Labor Hospital (Humboldt State University Special Collections)

By the first of November, the UnionHospital was down ten nurses and Imogene, whose health improved, wasthankful to volunteers who took over everything but the actualnursing. Local papers recognized the valiant work being doneand many lives saved through the effort of local volunteers, thoughsome, like J. F. Buck Buchanan, who was on call wherever andwhenever needed, also fell ill.

By mid-November, the county was sadlylosing nurses, but some, like Miss Neska Alexander, recovered andwent back to work. Retired nurses were asked to come forward as amatter of patriotism, but younger women were discouraged fromvolunteering, in part because they were considered more vulnerable tothe virus.

Physicians and officials implored thepublic to follow health recommendations, wear a mask and sociallydistance. If not, Dr. Mercer believed the disease would continue tospread and the toll of death would rise. Thankfully, manyheeded the warning. On November 11, while Imogene Lockwood and othersrecognized the end of the war, their celebrating was tame andhampered due to grief over losing fellow nurses and theirinability to see the merry smiles behind a mask.

Growing compliance with the maskordinance was credited with a decline in cases in Eureka, but casescontinued in outlying areas. Arcata was forced to repurpose theWomens Club House into a Red Cross Hospital and officials touredthe county to encourage adherence to safety measures. Eventually casecounts started to fall throughout the county and by November 17,temporary isolation hospitals, like the one in Scotia, wereable to close. The Red Cross hospital in Eureka shuttered its doorswhen the last patient was discharged on November 20. After fumigatingthe building with formaldehyde, which not even the most hardy andtenacious bug known to science could survive, it was turned backover the Dr. Falk.

Over the next few months, the fluresurfaced throughout the county, but it never again reached theextremes faced in October and November of 1918 when countlessresidents fell ill, and many died. Undoubtedly many more were savedthanks to the tireless efforts of health care workers and volunteers.

On Jan 1, 1919, with the trauma of theepidemic behind her, nursing student Imogene Lockwood wished herdiary a Happy new year! She also resolved to study, put herprofession first, guard her tongue and strive to be more cultured andrefined. She and the other students faced extra work because of thetime they lost caring for flu patients, but by 1922, Miss ImogeneLockwood and many of her classmates were registered nurses, caringfor patients right where they had trained at the Union Hospitalin Eureka.

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NEXT WEEK:The impact of the SpanishInfluenza Epidemic on education, religious services, jails, and thebusiness community.