Pioneers in medicine

Lesa Arterburn remembered that it was a trip like none other before it.

One summer Sunday in 1962, her mother, Betty, loaded up Lesa, her three sisters and one brother into the family car for a ride. All of a sudden, she started feeding the children crackers, lots of crackers.

Arterburn, now Gage County Historical Society Museum director, said they soon arrived at the Beatrice Auditorium, where they were part of the throng of more than 12,000 waiting to receive an oral polio vaccine.

“By the time we arrived, I was thinking, ‘The crackers are nice, but I'm getting really thirsty,'” Arterburn said this week. “We knew something was up because we never got to eat anything in the car before.”

The mass polio vaccine ranks as one of the largely forgotten parts of Beatrice's medical history, said Arterburn, one of the leaders in the observance of Beatrice's 150th birthday this year. But it points to some of the many changes the city has seen over the years in disease care, alternative medicines and technology and even pharmacies.

February marks the month that organizers for the city's 150th birthday observance will highlight the importance of the medical community to Beatrice. Other months in the coming year will focus on the contributions of such other areas to the city, such as education, agriculture and religion.

The oral polio vaccine Arterburn remembers was administered to more than 12,500 persons in Beatrice and another 3,500 at the Lions Hall in Wymore.

“I remember it tasted sweet,” Arterburn said.

Diseases

Polio was one of the many communicable diseases that Beatrice health officials had to monitor carefully in past years.

According to a Beatrice Times report on Aug. 31, 1952, a 12-year-old Beatrice boy, Gerald Kollekowski, died from polio. His death was the 36th death in Nebraska for polio so far that year, while the total polio cases for the year, 807, was the highest in history, according to the Nebraska State Health Department.

The largest epidemic in Beatrice history was the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, an international outbreak that killed more than 20 million people worldwide.

On Oct. 5, 1918, the Beatrice Board of Health ordered all churches, public schools, theaters, pool halls and clubs closed after more than 50 cases of Spanish flu were reported in the city. Despite the board of health's actions, the number of flu cases rose to 66 by mid-October and 164 by late October.

A total of six deaths had been reported.

As a preventative against the spread of the disease, employees in many Beatrice stores began wearing gauze masks furnished by the local Red Cross chapter.

By December, schools had reopened, but teachers were closely watching pupils and sending home all who were ill.

The city board of health also adopted regulations to designate some person at each local industry or business to take the temperature and pulse of every employee each day and keep a record for board of health inspection. In addition, 80 employees at Dempster Mill Manufacturing Co. were inoculated against the flu.

The regulations further limited the number of customers who could be inside a store at one time. Up to 25 customers could be in a 25-foot store at one time and as many as 50 customers at once could be inside a 50-foot store.

By the end of the year, however, the number of flu cases dropped and life in Beatrice returned to normal.

About 20 years before that, Beatrice residents were unable to find the cause of an outbreak of scarlet fever among some local youngsters, particularly those attending Fairview School at 1220 Summit St. and Glenover School at 1009 N. Second St.

A.H. Kidd, a Beatrice attorney, wrote in his diary in the 1890s that his young children became ill with scarlet fever after coming into contact with children who attended Fairview School, a block away from his house.

The scarlet fever situation angered Kidd so much, in fact, he decided to run for the Beatrice Board of Education.

Dr. Clifford Fall, a local physician, investigated and attributed the illnesses to the schools' toilet and ventilation system. Fall said the system of toilets in use at Fairview and Glenover schools was called the “Smead system,” in which the toilets were in the basement and there was no system of flushing by water.

It was also known as the “dry closet” system, depending on the circulation of air to carry the smell up the chimney. However, the smell often came into the school rooms instead of going up the chimneys. Fall thought this caused the spread of scarlet fever, and Kidd blamed the Smead system for his children's illnesses.

After more research, including reading a report by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg of Battle Creek, Mich., (perhaps best known as inventor of Corn Flakes cereal) condemning the system, Kidd was able to get the toilet system removed, and the number of scarlet fever cases in local schools dropped.

Medical inventions

Beatrice was also home of a number of medical inventions, some of more lasting value than others.

Along with Professor Brace of the University of Nebraska, Fall constructed the first X-ray machine in Nebraska in 1896. The previous year, Professor Conrad Roentgen of Germany discovered a mysterious ray which penetrated not only clothing, but also skin and muscles.

Medical leaders hailed the Roentgen ray (later called the X-ray) as one of the greatest discoveries in medical history.

It didn't take long for others to capitalize on the increasing medical technology of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1906, Dr. Aleck V. Robinson opened his “X-Ray and Electro-Therapeutic Sanitarium” at the corner of Fourth and High streets. The institution was “devoted exclusively to the treatment of chronic and intractable diseases as cancer, tuberculosis, lupus, ulcers, strictures, fistulae, skin diseases, rheumatism and grave abdominal disorders.”

Assurance of success was guaranteed in the “great majority of cases.”

By 1914, Beatrice inventor C.C. Johnson developed an “oxygenator” and operated a clinic at 109 N. Fourth St.

Johnson called his oxygenator “the greatest boon to the sick and afflicted ever discovered.” The oxygenator was said to cure “asthma, catarrh, rheumatism, constipation, nervousness, paralysis, blood disorders, stomach, liver, lung, kidney, bladder and heart troubles.”

It also was guaranteed to cure “hay fever, malarial and all fevers, pneumonia, appendicitis, la grippe (flu), colds, female troubles, etc., and all acute and chronic ailments and weakness that yield to any known curative agency.”

The oxygenator was designed, according to Johnson, to allow the lungs to “freely imbibe oxygen as when in a perfect state of health. By oxidizing the poisons within the blood, the blood stream of the body is purified and cleansed.”

According to Gage County Historical Society records, Johnson continued selling his oxygenator until at least the mid-1920s.

Pharmacies

Beatrice has also been home to a number of pharmacies that have sold medications the city's physicians have prescribed.

By 1871, the city boasted the Hinkle & Pease drug store, which featured an ice cream saloon, and the Overland Drug Store. Later, the city had the Owl pharmacy, where persons could order a meal at the store's soda fountain, and Warren Pharmacy, which specialized in free delivery service.

J.C. Warren, Warren Pharmacy owner, said in a 1921 article that although he served during World War I in Mexico and France and had traveled to California and other places within the United States, he decided to remain in Beatrice for business.

“I grew up in Beatrice, I know the people here and like the old place, and for that reason I believe it is the best town for me,” he said.