Discussions

In the 1880’s the threat of Typhoid Fever to the community of Brandon increased at alarming rates. Dr. Alexander Fleming was at the forefront of the eradication of this deadly disease.  
 
In 1887 the local press interviewed him, and he is on record as saying: “Typhoid is caused by filth. In Brandon it has been accumulating for about six years and the soil and sub-soil beneath our feet is so saturated with is that we breathe, drink and eat it.”  
 
Dr.’s Spencer and More supported Dr. Fleming, but Dr. McDiarmid was of the view that Typhoid existed in Brandon before it was ever a city. Mayor Daly, (Brandon’s first Mayor) and others had caught it before drainage, cesspools, and filth-saturated soils existed.  
 
The Doctors may not have agreed on the cause of Typhoid, but under the guidance of Dr. Fleming the city did try to improve its sanitation methods. One block housed twenty-three stables where large amounts of horse manure accumulated. Rubbish piles and open drains were prohibited, outside toilets located near wells had to be installed within sealed vaults, and if you were caught with an un-emptied slop pail, you were subject to a fine. Inspector Burns supervised the clean up of Rosser Avenue and area.  
 
In 1883 an Act of Incorporation of the Brandon General Hospital was passed, but with a large number of adverse conditions of the time it was not feasible to construct a Hospital. This problem presented a major crisis because of successive waves of Typhoid, Diphtheria, and la Grippe, (Influenza). Obituaries in the Newspaper often said things like: “Beloved child”, Lizzie or Jimmy or some such fellow, “Fell asleep in Jesus” due to Diphtheria.  
 
These tragedies must have meant heartbreak and sorrow for parents and spouses who lived in constant fear that they or someone else in their family would be next to come down with something, therefore some type of action was required. Sick people were forced to lay in discomfort in boarding places throughout town, and after Mayor Daly visited some of these poor souls declared the situation urgent, and suggested that some citizen could offer a large residence to be used as a Hospital.  
 
Establishment of a temporary hospital was authorized, and an organizing committee was struck, but Mayor Daly thought it was too much to expect an infirmed man to pay a week’s room and board.  
The epidemics were rising and taking a deadly toll, and this frustrated the women of the city who took the first real incentive towards establishing a hospital.  
 
A house on Lorne Avenue was rented to care for patients that were referred by Doctors, and it was soon in operation. This group of ladies who did all the hard work at the hospital stayed together as a group, and when the new hospital opened in 1892, they formed the Woman’s Hospital Aid Society.  
 
In 1887, Mrs. Walker advertised in the local newspaper that she had a “clean well ventilated and warm house available as a hospital” and it was ready for patients. She owned or rented an early two frame dwelling on the north side of Louise Avenue and Seventh Street. Dr. Fleming brought in his first patient, and he was Dr. J. F. Fisher, a Veterinary Surgeon who was diagnosed with Typhoid Fever. He was a patient for six weeks before he made a complete recovery.  
 
On 26th November 1897, Dr. Fleming suddenly died, probably of a heart attack, leaving Brandon with a serious shortage of Doctors.  
 
The monument over his grave is the most imposing in the city cemetery. Mr. R. B. Thompson wrote a poem about the city’s most popular Doctor and it catches the grief that Brandon felt at his passing.  
 
“Mourn Brithers mourn! Greet Brithers greet!  
For one we aye rejoiced to meet,  
Whose soul – like electricity –  
Was in his haun-shake, voice and e’e.  
He’s gone! Aye Doctor Fleming’s gone  
But he’ll be welcomed at the throne  
By him he loved: and hosts of men  
Shall shout to meet their friend again.”  
 
The following year, 1898, Dr. Spencer also died. With the death of Dr Fleming, there was a vacancy on both the Hospital and Health Boards, and it was through the Health Board that the unacceptable sanitary conditions of Brandon were ordered cleaned up.  
 
Source: Brandon a City G. F. Barker.  
 
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/prov/p060.html