Medicine

Medicine in the late 1890's and early 1900's was much different from the medicine that we know today. At first there was only one doctor for an area that stretched hundreds of miles in every direction. This doctor had to travel great distances by horse in all kinds of weather. There were two famous, local doctors, Thomas Charles Spence and Alfred Schmitz Shadd, each of whom stopped at nothing to reach their patients. These doctors would take 'everything they could handle and more'. They often risked their lives to save the lives of others, even those of complete strangers. They gave their hearts and souls to their profession and to the people of the Carrot River Valley. In 1907, a dream that had been shared by the community for quite some time, became a pleasant reality, and a hospital was finally built. The doctors were brought together at a central location, which made medical treatment much more convenient for both the doctors and the patients.

Dr. Thomas Charles Spence
Dr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd
Dr. Shadd in Melfort
Lady Minto Hospital
Flu Epidemic
Dr. John George Grant

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