I was born in 1936. My very first memory is of my sister sitting in a white crib in a room with rows and rows of white cribs. She was sucking her thumb and sitting on her own so she must have been at least six months old. That would have made it early winter of 1940. I would have been four and a half years old.
Where was this place with all the white cribs?
We were in an institution called the Preventorium in Vancouver. It was for children whose parents had contracted tuberculosis. There was no cure for TB except months of hospital rest, nutritious food and air clear of the soot and dust from burning coal and sawdust in household furnaces.
My father was hospitalized for one year and my mother for three years. We were no longer a family. My sister and I became orphans to disease. We stayed in the Preventorium for six months – I have a photo of a nurse holding my sister in her arms with me standing shyly by in my sweater and skirt. Another six months we lived with a great aunt and uncle in Seattle. I have a memory of a house with white columns and an upper porch with a puddle on the floor. There my sister celebrated her second birthday.
Finally, back to Vancouver. My father – a stranger. No mother. A series of housekeepers until finally the loving Mrs. Higgs took the job permanently. I remember her walking me to school for grade one. She cared for us for the next three or four years. Finally, my mother came home. She, too, was a stranger. She was not allowed touch us. No cuddles. Her dishes were kept separate from the ours. It was deemed that she was possibly still contagious. The disease of tuberculosis ruled our lives. Mrs. Higgs took care of us until my mother was able to. Then Mrs. Higgs left.
I remember line-ups for a small pox vaccination in my neighbourhood. Some times I could not play with my friends because they had quarantine signs nailed to their door. The many so-called childhood diseases: measles, mumps, chicken pox, scarlet fever were the frequent cause. Though we could go to school, we were not allowed to go to movies or swim in the park because polio was rampant. Polio, a disease that paralyzed children and occasionally adults (President Roosevelt). Temperatures as high as 105 degrees F, delirium and pain. Sometimes sufferers could not breathe without the help of an iron lung. No playing, no reading, nothing! Just breathing by machine.
Finally, it is 1945. The war was over. Yes, food rationing continued but no more blackout curtains.
And then – wonder of wonders – penicillin! Though it was discovered by accident in 1928, the war efforts left little time or manpower for scientists to figure out how to manufacture the vast quantities needed. Then they realized this antibiotic could stop the spread of bacterial infections: tuberculosis, whooping cough, scarlet fever, etc. But not the others.
They didn’t touch viruses, the worst of which was polio. Finally, in 1953, Jonas Salk announced his development of a vaccine for polio. This was the beginning of successful vaccines against the many killers and disablers caused by viruses.
Now we have COVID-19, a new threat. Experience with SARS has helped. Yes, vaccines took a long time to develop in the past. But scientists learned with each challenge. And most recently, unlocking DNA sped things up. Vaccines could be developed more quickly. We continue to learn.
Get vaccinated! You don’t know how lucky you are!
Alannah Anderson
Nelson
