South Peace Historical Society

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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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11-017: Nancy Dunn, First Public Health Nurse in the District

 

Information by Mrs. C. Hind, 1973

A frontier community is usually self-sufficient in all regards. Pioneer settlers are a hardy group and they can handle anything that comes their way. However, sickness and injury increase with increased population and sooner or later the settlement requires medical personnel.

This was the case with the settlers in the Peace River District. People had established themselves throughout the area and it was very difficult for neighbors to help each other when illness struck because of the distances between farms and settlements.

Soon a movement was begun to secure medical aid for the area. The Women’s Institutes played an important role in the development of the areas and it was they who undertook to bring medical personnel here. Mrs. Nancy Neil, public health convener for the Sunset Prairie W.I., took steps to have a nurse come into the area. She began to correspond with the Red Cross in 1930, and through her efforts on behalf of the community the Red Cross sent in Miss Nancy Dunn in 1931.

Miss Dunn was originally from England where she was a First Lieutenant in World War I. She then moved to Toronto and on to Vancouver continuing her medical career along the way. From there she arrived at Sunset Prairie at age 42 and began her duties there. She boarded for a year and a half with Mrs. C. Hind while she traveled throughout the countryside tending the sick. Though she was sent in especially to visit the schools, preventing disease and checking on sanitation and general health, she took on whatever health problems there were in the area. She covered the entire Peace River Block on her rounds — from Pouce Coupe to Rolla, from Arras to East Pouce, and all points between. She used whatever transportation was available and she went in all types of weather at all times of day.

Her salary was paid by the Red Cross who also paid her expenses and for her supplies. But she was responsible for her own transportation. In the beginning she was provided with a saddle horse by Jessie Hind, and soon afterwards, in the winter of 1932, she bought a cutter and team of horses out of her own salary. One of the settlers painted a red cross on the cutter and this cutter became the symbol of relief for the people and it portrayed the courage and dedication of the driver. The government soon was made to realize the scope of Nancy’s work and 1½ years later they provided her with a car. By then she was known and endeared by all who knew her. She was made of that special fiber akin to frontiersmen and there was nothing she wouldn’t tackle. It can be safely said that she was the beginning of the Peace River Health Unit. She had begun what others were to expand into a countrywide health service in preventive care, with specialized clinics and regular examinations and treatment.

In 1937 Nancy Dunn was transferred to Fort Nelson and from there she went to Telegraph Creek where she used a dog team to get around. Later she married Mr. Bert Roddis, whom she met and knew while she was in Pouce Coupe. He was there as Government Agent and he was involved in community affairs there. His first wife was a charter member of the Women’s Auxiliary in 1936. Mr. Roddis was working in Teslin, Yukon at the time of the courtship and marriage.

Nancy Dunn retired at about age 70 and she and her husband moved to Salt Spring Island on the coast, where in 1963 she was still alive and well.

The following impression of Miss Dunn’s school inspections was written by Mrs. Gething for presentation at a school concert when Nancy was thought to be unable to appear, as scheduled, due to road conditions. Just as this was about to be recited, who should “blow in” but Nancy herself. She insisted on hearing it, and laughed heartily.

OUR SCHOOL NURSE — MISS DUNN, by Jean Gething.
When Nurse Dunn comes to our school,
Then things begin to hum.
She keeps the kids and teacher too
Forever on the run.
 
First we hear from out the door.
“Oh please send out a boy.
My team must be unhitched and fed
A good rest they’ll enjoy.
 
I’ve traveled miles and miles today:
That’s why I am so late.
But then you know I’ll not complain
For that’s a nurse’s fate.
 
And now I’ll need a few more boys
My luggage to fetch in.
I’ll need my case and scales right off
Before I can begin.”
 
Then she finally comes inside
And greets us one and all
But we are all so ‘cited then
We hardly speak at all.
 
She promptly asks for more helpers
Her nice scales to set up.
She then needs one to weigh the kids,
And one to check weights up
 
And still another child must read
The weights at her last call
And tell which ones have gained a bit
And which gained not at all
 
Then she inspects us every one
And says “Now, one, two, three”
To some she says, “Go wash your neck,
For it I cannot see”
 
Sometimes she will lecture us
On vit’mins A. B. C.
Or draw for us a little fish
Grasshopper — or froggie.
 
She seems to have her favorites too,
For she sends them things so swell.
We all wish we were underweight
And be treated just as well.
 

« 11-016: Dr. John Barret Thorton Wood

11-018: Nurse Thankful for a Healthy Place »

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