August 1, 2020
Illness on the Job
In the spring wave of influenza, during a less virulent form of the virus, the Detroit plant of the Ford Motor company sent home more than 1000 workers ill with flu.[132] The speed with which the influenza spread in the fall wave is discussed in the Annual Report of Medfield State Hospital. On September 21 the trustees reported 21 cases of influenza “among our employees and within a week 41 employees were ill. The total number of cases of influenza was 416 – 60 deaths.” Quickly a policy of containment was begun and “…as soon as the disease was recognized the hospital was placed under quarantine and means were adopted looking toward the proper isolation of the cases. The female employees were treated in the employees’ infirmary building. The male employees were treated in the tuberculous ward, which fortunately had been recently painted and cleaned since its occupancy by insane patients.”[133]
With a contagion rate of 19%, caring for the patients became a struggle. “A number of our patients, both male and female, assumed charge of the quiet wards, served as night watches, and in every way took the place of the regular employee.” At one point, State Hospital report noted that there were 73 employees ill on one day. Since the hospital operated its own farm to aid in the support of its patients, the pandemic interfered with farm production for “about 2000 gallons of green vegetables were canned, but the canning of apples had to be deferred, due to the illness of the dietitian and suitable employees to assist in this work.”[134] Fortunately, the hospital acquired some graduate nurses and seven physicians from the Volunteer Medical Service Corps to aid in their stressful situation. Further complicating matters, Leon E. Mayo, superintendent of Medfield State Hospital Farm, accepted the position of Director at the Medfield Cooperative Bank, while simultaneously, “his assistant, Howard Bent died Sunday of pneumonia following influenza.”[135] In other words, the entire machinations of the hospital were completely disrupted. However, Superintendent Mayo, who had also contracted the influenza, was greatly appreciative of “the demands upon the staff,” and realized that they “were unusually great.”[136]
To attempt to control the spread of the disease both inside and outside Medfield State Hospital, the Dedham Transcript reported that with more than “75 cases of influenza” in the hospital, employees were requested to remain at the hospital even on their days off, while visitors were not permitted.[137] The hospital Board of Trustees did not meet in October because they were “in [the] throes of wrestling with the influenza epidemic, which embraced this institution in a peculiarly virulent form.”[138] The local newspapers never reported the seriousness of the death rate within the institution. They did mention that several towns around Massachusetts were involved in a serious epidemic including “Boston, Brookline, Gloucester, Chelsea, Quincy,” and that “many suburban cities and towns are also hard hit.” Apparently their names were not worthy of mention. Although the papers may not have known of the seriousness of the influenza among the staff at hospitals, the Commonwealth expressed concern over the efficient functioning of these institutions.[139]
While the exact number of employees who worked in industry in Medfield and Millis is unknown, it is possible to project an absentee rate. In Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the absentee rate at the Melville Ice Company reached 11 out of 14 employees or 78% in early October. Another report from a Boston newspaper states that “of the forty nurses on duty” in Framingham, there were twenty-five who contracted the flu.[140] The major industries in Millis, Joseph M. Herman Shoe Company and Safepack Mills, were deeply involved in manufacturing for the war effort. The Joseph M. Herman Shoe Company manufactured shoes and boots for the United States government during World War I as well as during other wars.[141] Safepack Mills reports that it “ran at full capacity supplying waterproof paper to protect food, clothing and supplies shipped to the armed forces” during World War I. Clicquot Club, the other major company in Millis, manufactured soft drinks that were consumed around the country. Knowing that the administrators were alarmed by the number of employees ill at Medfield State Hospital and how deeply the functioning of that institution was affected, it is likely that the high absentee rate extended to industry. In Medfield, the prominent industry was the Edwin V. Mitchell hat factory, which was “long and favorably known to the trade, extending from Maine to California, and from Canada to Texas.”[142] With numerous employees, many of them young women coming from Maine looking for work, the absentee rate probably resembled that of the Melville Ice Company and the hospital in Framingham.
Every human activity around the country was affected by the influenza pandemic. In October, the military draft was cancelled and the majority of camps put under quarantine.[143] A critical shortage of anthracite coal caused Pennsylvania and Kentucky to send for the army and “medical help to coal mining towns to sustain the vital war effort.”[144] Theatres and saloons were closed, while athletic events were suspended. The factories attempted to work for the war effort seven days a week and in some instances 24 hours per day. Even the churches were closed in Boston on Sunday, September 22nd.[145] Public gatherings began to be limited to only a few persons at a time, even for funerals. In other parts of the world, mass graves were used to bury the dead due to lack of manpower to dig graves, perform ceremonies or build coffins.
The functioning of Medfield, however, continued as the Board of Registrars of Voters held their meeting in the Selectmen’s room of the Town Building. Throughout the epidemic, the ever-hospitable Medfield Inn continued to advertise in the Dedham Transcript on the front page of the paper. Their ad stated they were open for boarders, parties, and dancing.[146] How the Medfield Inn could have continued to welcome boarders during the pandemic is suspect since Medfield restricted attendance at “churches, Sunday Schools and lodge meetings…and people are not allowed to congregate in the lobby of the post office during the epidemic.” Even the military was feeling the effects of the pandemic, for company M of the 13th Regiment suspended its drills.[147]
The influenza pandemic created suspicion about German war tactics. Many people believed that the Germans were somehow responsible for the pandemic through some chemical or poisoning means. The United States Public Health Service denounced rumors that Bayer aspirin, a German creation, was “poisoning its customers with flu germs.”[148] Doctors also believed that chemical warfare and general unsanitary practices worldwide were contributing factors to the epidemic.[149] Locally, the Franklin Sentinel newspaper repeated a slogan heard in the area, “even before the influenza struck was we were suspicious of those germ-uns.”[150] Young creative children jumping rope during their vacation due to the pandemic, do not disappoint us with this rhyme, “I had a little bird/Its name was Enza/I opened the window/And in-flu-Enza.”[151] To encourage people to remember their gauze masks, adults also circulated a rhyme, “Obey the laws/And wear the gauze/Protect your jaws/From septic paws.[152]
Communities around Medfield and Millis began to close many of their facilities. Milford closed its schools on September 20th and its amusements on September 21st.[153] Nearby Wellesley closed its public schools on September 27 and 28 (Thursday and Friday) with hopes of reopening on Monday, September 30, 1918. The reason given for closing the schools appears to be one of containing general panic among the townspeople of Wellesley. The school board believed that many students were absent due to anxiety and a cold going around the school, rather than due to any other cause. School attendance at this time was approximately 70% of normal.[154] If anyone had an urge to go to pool rooms, bowling, to church or to the motion pictures, they could not because the Board of Health closed these facilities in Franklin as well as the schools.[155] In Dedham, the Norfolk County jail reported six cases of influenza and requested to be closed to visitors on October 1, 1918.[156] In Medfield, the Medfield Grange Records revealed that they held their monthly meeting on September 19, welcoming six visitors and twenty members. Due to the flu emergency, they did not meet again until November 7. Perhaps to cut down on the sharing of germs, at the November 7 meeting the members made a motion “to have refreshments in place of supper.”[157] The Medfield Branch of the American Red Cross closed its workroom during the epidemic. Fortunately for Medfield, the “Fighting Fourth” Liberty loan achieved and even exceeded its quota of $63,200 so door-to-door canvassing and the spreading of germs did not continue during the influenza pandemic.[158] The Girls Canning Club announced in the Dedham Transcript its intention of meeting on September 21 to give a demonstration of their talents, but apparently by word of mouth and not the newspaper, they decided to postpone their program. They later held their meeting in mid-November at the Unitarian vestry.[159]
Mr. Albert Ames, superintendent of both Medfield and Millis schools, along with the selectmen, closed the schools on Tuesday, September 18 at noon. While the Town Report failed to mention the dates of the “enforced vacation,” so aptly described by Carriebelle Thayer, music instructor of Medfield and Millis schools, the report expressed frustration at the lack of time to complete necessary studies.[160] Helen M. Allan, drawing instructor of Medfield schools, noted that “the various interruptions due to illness, have not allowed time for the necessary drill which produces successful work.” Mr. Ames mentioned both the “lost time and interruptions, due to coal shortage, [and] epidemic disease,” but informed both towns that he was pleased that “school interest has been maintained.”[161] R. P. Chamberlain, Principal of Millis schools, stated that “the work of the school year of 1918 suffered a serious setback owing to the fact that the schools were closed about four weeks on account of the epidemic; but we should count ourselves fortunate in not having to be closed a much longer time as were schools of many towns.”[162]
In November, the incidence of the epidemic appeared to have slowed down and on Saturday, November 2, the Board of Health removed all restrictions on public gatherings due to the Spanish influenza. In Medfield, the signing of the armistice ending World War I was celebrated at 4:30 Monday morning with a large bonfire on Grange Field. The Kaiser was burned in effigy to everyone’s enjoyment. Other events included a meeting in Chenery Hall on Sunday evening to kick off the “United War Work Campaign Fund.” The meeting was noted as being well attended.[163] Unfortunately, wherever people rejoiced exuberantly the influenza returned and with it, higher mortality figures.[164] This resurgence of the influenza is seen in Medfield and Millis, perhaps reflecting their engagement in public celebrations of the armistice.
Cry for Doctors and Nurses
Although the medical community could do very little in the way of prevention or treatment of the flu, it could care for people while they were ill and see to basic needs of cleanliness and nutrition. The country was desperate for doctors and nurses. The Red Cross assisted the ill in both the “military and civilian arenas,” trying to fill the nurse’s role.[165] Even the Boy Scouts, only recently formed, managed to provide food to those who were too ill to leave their homes.[166] Anyone who had any medical training was needed to serve the public and in the military. Surgeon General Rupert Blue of Boston called upon doctors who had been initially rejected due to age or fitness for military duty to serve in the Volunteer Medical Service Corps (VMSC).[167] Blue even welcomed retired doctors and nurses to serve during this public emergency.[168] When it was all over, the Health Department was pleased with the response by the medical community and the successful calling out of “238 physicians and 1097 nurses” to aid during the emergency.[169]
“The situation is critical the hospitals are filled, the doctors are ill…we were taken quite unawares.”[170] On October 1, the United States Congress approved one million dollars to be disbursed to the Public Health Service to aid in the fight against influenza. Boston still requested 500 additional doctors to care for the ill and recovering.[171] Nurses, however, were in the greatest demand for they offered more than doctors. While nurses had very little medical equipment that could aid in the epidemic, they offered something far more important—tender loving care.[172] Itinerant nurses brought with them [a] “thermometer, nailbrush, alcohol, creosol, green soap, feeding cups and drinking tubes, gauze, rubber sheeting and formaldehyde,” and cared for patients living in the community. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one nurse managed the care of 139 patients for three days, losing only one patient.[173]
In smaller communities the loss of a physician created a critical situation. On September 27, the Milford Daily News reported that “Dr. Geo. W. Yeaton, Medway Physician, Loses Life in Duty.” Although he received the care of Dr. Ernest Hill of Millis and Dr. Hussey of Franklin, Dr. Yeaton died at the age of 38 from influenza and pneumonia. He had served Medway and neighboring towns for fifteen years.[174] The Franklin Sentinel reported that Dr. Yeaton was the “only physician left there [Medway] except Miss Kate Sanborn and overworked himself in grip cases.”[175] Millis was fortunate during the pandemic as they retained two doctors in their town—Dr. Ernest L. Hill, also an Overseer of the Poor, and Dr. A. Mitchell.[176] Dr. Frank Clough, a Medfield physician, had departed on 1 July to train for YMCA service and serve in Italy, causing a shortage of doctors in Medfield.[177] The Franklin Sentinel reported that “Dr. J. M. Crowley, chairman of the local board of Health [Franklin], has been called by the state health board to Medfield, to assist in caring for some of the patients afflicted with influenza there.”[178] Other physicians chose to limit contact among patients and announced their attempts to control the pandemic in the newspaper. Dr. G. S. Thompson and Dr. L. F. Playse announced in the Milford paper that “during the prevalence of influenza, patients with symptoms of influenza, head colds, coughs, inflamed eyes, will not be admitted to the office for treatment.”[179] It is unknown what patients were to do then, but given the death rates of people in their homes local medical care appears limited to home visits or verbal contact.
[132] Crosby, 18.
[133] Medfield State Hospital 1918, 10.
[134] Medfield State Hospital 1918, 14.
[135] Dedham Transcript, October 26, 1918, 2.
[136] Medfield State Hospital 1918, 9; 12.
[137] Dedham Transcript October 5, 1918, 2.
[138] Medfield State Hospital 1918, 7.
[139] Milford Daily News, September 30, 1918, np.
[140] Boston Evening Transcript, October 4, 1918, 13.
[141] Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Millis. (D. C. Colleris Co, 1960), 84; 86; 89-90.
[142] Medfield Historical Society.
[143] Crosby, 49.
[144] Hoehling, 94; Fincher, 142.
[145] Collier, 144; Hoehling, 33.
[146] Dedham Transcript, September 21, 1918, 1-2.
[147] Dedham Transcript, October 5, 1918, 2.
[148] Crosby, 47; 216.
[149] Crosby, 9.
[150] Franklin Sentinel, October 18, 1918, 1.
[151] Hoehling, 33.
[152] Hoehling, 161.
[153] Milford Daily News, September 17, 1918, 21.
[154] Townsman, September 27, 1918, 4.
[155] Franklin Sentinel, October 18, 1918.
[156] Milford Daily News, October 1, 1918, 3.
[157] Medfield Grange Records, May 16, 1918 to April 6, 1922, 13.
[1578] Dedham Transcript, October 19, 1918, 2.
[159] Dedham Transcript, September 21, 1918, 2; Dedham Transcript, November 16, 1918, 2.
[160] Millis Town Report 1918, 103.
[161] Medfield Town Report 1918, 60-61.
[162] Millis Town Report 1918, 104.
[163] Dedham Transcript, November 16, 1918, 2.
[164] Collier, 232; 240.
[165] Crosby, 51.
[166] Collier, 120-121.
[167] Crosby, 50.
[168] Collier, 101.
[169] Department of Health 1918, 198.
[170] Hoehling, 42.
[171] Collier, 101.
[172] Crosby, 7.
[173] Collier, 121.
[174] Milford Daily News, September 27, 1918, 1.
[175] Franklin Sentinel, September 27, 1918.
[176] Millis Town Report 1918, 38.
[177] Dedham Transcript, October 26, 1918, 2.
[178] Franklin Sentinel, October 4, 1918.
[179] Milford Daily News, September 27, 1918, np.