Four Days on Miserable Roads: A Doctor Carries Relief to River Camps
With twenty patients back at the emergency hospital and winter camps strung along the Pend Oreille River, Dr. Walker spent four days reaching Ione and leaving the first relief supplies.
Dr. Walker, superintendent of the emergency hospital, has about 20 patients under his charge at the present time. Most of them are suffering from frostbite, colds or rheumatism. None of the cases are reported as being serious.
Dr. Walker of the hospital made a trip to the camps along the river as far as Ione last week. The trip consumed four days’ time. The roads were miserable a large portion of the distance, and the ride was anything but an enjoyable one. First relief supplies were left at all of the camps.
“The roads were miserable a large portion of the distance and the ride was anything but an enjoyable one.”
Rural health care still depends on long, difficult journeys to reach isolated workers and residents, especially in winter. The story also records the human cost of the logging and river camps that powered the region’s economy.
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