By Dorthea CalverleyA pioneer doctor — the second medical practitioner to live among homesteaders in the Grand Prairie area — died in 1965 at the age of one hundred. Doctor Annie Ella (Carbeth) Higbee came with her husband — a professor — and her 13-year-old son Jack over the Edson Trail in 1912. She became… Read More

Dr. Hollies set out on an education career and taught school in Southern Alberta for a number of years. Later he moved to Edmonton and began training for a career in medicine. After completing his training he began practice in the area. He was doctor for two hospitals at the same time and he had… Read More

By Dorthea CalverleyNurse Richards of that first hospital still lives in Peace River, the widow of one of the early and dearly loved doctor, Fred Henry Sutherland. Near by her home stands the beautiful and modern Sutherland Hospital for the aged, a fitting memorial to them both. Dr. Sutherland was an all-round student at the… Read More

By Lee Phillips, 1973Dr. Wood was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1908 and received his early schooling there, but completed his high school in Edmonton. At the age of eighteen he worked for Fraser Sawmills on the river flats in Edmonton and during his spare time he worked on a dine-and-sleeping car as a waiter… Read More

  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… Read More

By Sherry Sandwell, Monday, May 31, 1965 Mrs. Margaret Drinnon, Red Cross outpost nurse from Hudson Hope in the raw Peace River country, says that fortunately her one-bed hospital is in a vigorous healthy community. Mrs. Drinnon is here to discuss methods and developments with nurses from eight other isolated outposts in BC at the… Read More

By Dorthea H. Calverley, 1973Part 1 For some years Dawson Creek Red Cross members operated under the Pouce Coupe Charter. Mrs. Clare Shaver and Mrs. E.E. Shields of Bessborough were the President and Secretary of a club that had many members especially, after World War II started in 1939. As the war progressed and gas… Read More

©By Gerry Clare, 1997It’s not hard to find a dentist today, but in January of 1929 when Bert Moffatt and Alex Salo were homesteading on Bear Creek, things were different. While hauling logs, their sled hit a stump and in the sudden stop Alex broke a front tooth right off, exposing the nerves. Before sunrise… Read More

  Information by Mrs. W.S. Bullen and the Women’s Auxiliary, 1973 By 1921 there was a hospital at Pouce Coupe but the growing population of the area required additional medical services. The Pouce Hospital had its problems and shortcomings and the citizens of Dawson Creek felt it was time they got one started to serve… Read More

Irene Cottage Hospital, the first such building in Peace River Town, was officially opened in November 1914. It took 3 month to build and cost $1, 650.00. Most of the money was donated. Although crudely built of green lumber it served patients from Hudson’s Hope, Ft. Vermilion and Lesser Slave Lake, as well as the… Read More