The Story More than 4000 women served as military nurses during the Second World War playing a vital role in the care and comfort of wounded soldiers, sailors, and airmen. As commissioned officers known by rank and title as Nursing Sisters, they served as fully-integrated members of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, the Royal … More Nursing Sister’s Military Uniform (From the Collection #17)
The Story Medal set belonging to Nursing Sister Ann Baillie (1888-1942), ARRC, who enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1915 and served overseas in Egypt and France as a member of No. 7 (Queen’s) General Hospital. This set includes, from left to right: the Royal Red Cross, Class 2 (ARRC) awarded on 1 … More Nursing Sister’s War Medals (From the Collection #20)
“Due to the drug’s new found psychiatric uses, Benzedrine Sulfate tablets became a military staple during the World War II by both the Axis and Allied forces.” Benzedrine Sulfate’s was originally introduced as a decongestant produced in the form of a nasal inhaler. In 1936, Benzadrine Sulfate tablets came on the market to treat a … More Benzedrine Sulfate: From Military Stimulant to Weight Management
Over the coming summer months, I have the pleasure of developing a manuscript for the Museum of Health Care discussing the Spanish Influenza’s impact on Kingston. With biweekly blogs, I hope to share some of the insights, stories, and images that I come across as I explore this fascinating topic. … More The Infamous Spanish Influenza
Before the mid 19th century, women had a discreet but ever-present role on the battlefield, mostly as camp followers. When women such as Florence Nightingale started to demonstrate the value of military nurses, armies began to slowly, but surely assign them to their medical services. … More Voluntary Veil: The Canadian Voluntary Aid Detachment in the First World War
From a medical point of view the two military campaigns to capture the Dutch island of Walcheren – the first in 1809, the second in 1944 – could not have been more different. The 1809 British expedition was ravaged by disease, a lethal combination of malaria, typhus, typhoid fever, and dysentery that infected over 60% of the force, killed over 4,000 soldiers, and left tens of thousands as casualties. … More A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 3
Two of the most remarkable stories in military medical history happened in the exact same place: Walcheren, a strip of land that sits like a cork in the mouth of the Scheldt River running through the Netherlands and Belgium. … More A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 2
When we think about war and health care our imaginations are immediately drawn to ideas of war wounds, amputations, mobile surgical hospitals, and even psychiatric trauma and PTSD. These are among the most visible marks that war can leave on its participants. But until very recently in human history, war and health care meant something else. … More A Fighting Chance: Disease, Public Health, and the Military, Part 1
