Here I am again, writing this on a glorious sunny day in March. Today’s blog is mostly about the old fashioned isolation hospitals. Before modern medicine they were the only way to keep infectious diseases under control.
But still with this week, and people are still out, walking close by each other on the prom. They must think they are out for a days holiday by the seaside. One man had stripped off to the waist, although I would have kept my tshirt on if you know what I mean! Lots are walking about in TShirts, it’s been so warm.
While the weather is lovely, I just wish that people would be serious about this horrible virus. Now, Prince Charles has got it, albeit mild so they say, although Camilla hasn’t. They are self-isolating in Scotland so you couldn’t get much more isolated than that don’t you think! He won’t have to worry about getting a testing kit and the single bottle of milk that we are rationed to.
Stay at Home
Still I wasn’t born into the Royal Family, thank goodness, so I have to be like the rest of us and stay put. That is the ones of us who are behaving, not like the idiots on the Tube in London. I ask you, are they daft or what!
Kevin went shopping for us on Tuesday with a mask and scarf on his face, which we’ve seen some do on the prom. He managed to get quite a bit of what we needed. Although one bottle of milk, and a small one at that, won’t go far with four of us!
Anyway, enough of that. Although I must say it gets a bit much whenever we turn the TV to be told how many are dying. It’s a fact, the virus is here and with countries in Europe having more deaths than China, we should be listening, don’t you think!
Isolation Hospitals
I was talking to my lot after lunch about how different things are today compared to when my parents were young. And even when I was young, without all the facilities and medicines there are today.
Near to where I lived was a hospital that we knew as a Fever Hospital, which was where you went when you had something infectious.
Apparently, my dad went in there when he was young and contracted Scarlet Fever. So it would have been about 1920.
Remember, in those days antibiotics hadn’t been invented so unlike today, it was a serious thing to catch and spread easily. The answer then was shipping off whoever it affected to the isolation hospital.
He said he stayed there for three months, which must have felt like forever to a young child. I got the impression that he didn’t have visitors either. When he talked of it, it was with total ‘it was horrible in there’ attitude. Although being a very quiet man he didn’t usually say much about anything, so I knew it must have been bad for him to even talk about it.
Redbrick Victorian Building
When I went to grammar school at the tender age of 10, the bus I went on passed the driveway of the isolation hospital. All that you could see was the beautiful grounds and a very large, brick built building, very imposing.
When we went past it the kids would shout ‘never holler, never follow, never catch the fever’. When we saw an ambulance as well it made us even more spooked!
It was a sort of ‘if you say this rhyme you wouldn’t ever have to go in there’ superstitious thing. But even as a young adult I still had goosebumps at the thought of what went on in there.
Then a Convalescent Hospital
Eventually after antibiotics became more widely available, it was converted into a normal sort of hospital, more of a convalescent place for when you needed looking after but didn’t need medical care.
My grandma ended up in there twice, in the Nissen huts they built as so many people needed it. She was in for a total of five months each time, and being a very very private person, she hated it.
The huts were very bright and clean but the total lack of privacy with beds nearly side by side upset her. Imagine having to use bedpans all the time, and all the other things we all have to do, with a ward full watching you. It must have been horrible for her. I certainly would have hated it.
These places were, of course, vital before the days of newer treatments. People had to be isolated to stop spread in the community, just like with coronavirus today.
Modern Medicine
People with polio went there, diphtheria and all the things that have been stamped out now. They’ve been stamped out because of the invention of vaccines and antibiotics. The trouble is that most of the population wasn’t here to see those days when anything and everything was serious. Isolation worked then, so see the comparison. It shouts loud and clear what should be done.
My mum had a very close friend who was a nurse there and looked after people who had polio and were in iron lungs. Some part of their day, others all the time. She said how awful it was to see them. They were encased in a coffin like metal box with just your head sticking out. A mirror above you let you see just a tiny bit more than staring at the ceiling.
She said it was heartbreaking to see them, as the machine was vital to keep them alive. All they did, year after year, was lie in their coffin-like box until they died or improved enough to come out for short periods at a time.
Rotary International
There’s been a polio vaccination scheme in the UK for many, many years. But other countries in the world aren’t so lucky. Rotary has just about succeeded in stamping polio out though. They took their iron lung to Tram Sunday and Jane went inside it to see what it was like. Two minutes was enough…
Polio left you paralysed, so obviously it paralysed your lungs. A girl contracted it who was in my class at junior school. As a result, she was left lame and paralysed in one leg. She had to wear a heavy metal brace so that she could walk, which wasn’t pretty to say the least.
Needless to say, she vanished. Probably off to the fever hospital to recuperate and be isolated. It worked then, let’s hope it does now and keeps the spread to a minimum. In the meantime, I hope you all keep safe and well.
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