Public health nursing

Abstract

On 15 April 1950, in a public ceremony sponsored by the federal government and the province of British Columbia, Aileen Bond and Amy Wilson received Distinguished Service Medals for "...personal sacrifice and personal risk above and beyond the call of duty."1 This heroic chapter in the history of Canadian public health nursing began in late December of 1949 when Wilson, an Indian Affairs public health nurse stationed at Whitehorse, received a call for help from Halfway Valley, an isolated First Nations community near the Alaska Highway. As she made preparations to travel to the community, Wilson could only speculate about the nature of the medical emergency. She gathered as many supplies as she could carry, including a borrowed tracheotomy tube. "Inclusion of this little tube" she wrote, "suddenly made me realize how very much on my own I would be."2 Braving -50T weather, Wilson and a male guide arrived several days later to find a community devastated by starvation and, as Wilson had correctly surmised, a diphtheria outbreak. She quickly realized that she would need more help. Her request for assistance was received by Aileen Bond, the senior public health nurse at the Peace River Health Unit in Dawson Creek, BC. Bond left Dawson Creek on Christmas Eve, making her way by bush plane, horse sleigh, and snowshoes to join her colleague. In her official report, she stated: "TheIndian camp where the diphtheria raged was discovered by spotting a funeral fire on a nearby hill."3 Forty-eight of the 52 inhabitants of the community were ill. Five died. © Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, 2005. All rights reserved.