Customarily strong and healthy, Helen Gardner was anemic and exhausted after three years’ duty in England. Ordered to return to Canada for rest and rehabilitation, her point of departure was Liverpool, England. Her destination was Halifax, but the ship on which she travelled could not enter North America’s most important port.
Halifax Explosion
On December 6, 1917 the City of Halifax was devastated when two ships collided in the harbour. The terrible explosion caused the deaths of almost two thousand people and injuries to four thousand. On the following day, a record-breaking blizzard struck the city. A passenger on one of the diverted ships, Helen arrived at New York, boarded a troop train and travelled for almost three days to Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Canadian Military Heritage Project
Women suffered great difficulties during those war years. In pamphlets, speeches, and articles they were insulted and ridiculed by men who accused them of attempting to keep their men out of the war. After the Armistice there was public acknowledgment of women’s support and accomplishments both overseas and at home. According to The Canadian Military Heritage Project, “the number of women in munitions factories exceeded 30,000….untold thousands more in banks, offices, factories, and farms”.
Spanish Influenza
The Spanish Influenza pandemic that swept the world in 1918-1919 killed an estimated 21 million people including some 50,000 Canadians. Fully recuperated, Helen Gardner helped organize and manage emergency facilities at the Military Camp in Niagara-on-the Lake where Polish soldiers were mobilized. Hundreds of soldiers fell ill and, out of a total strength of 2,500 men, 24 died.
Public Health Education
Following the pandemic, the need to improve administration, education, and public health was identified. The innovative Department of Public Health Nursing established in 1920 emphasized disease prevention from the cradle to the grave. Requiring nursing preparation beyond hospital-based training and education, the three-year course was delivered at the University of Toronto. Helen accepted a scholarship for the new course where one of the outstanding lecturers was Dr. Frederick Banting.
Upon completion of the course, Helen did field work for the Ontario Department of Health on a part-time basis, and some private nursing when requested by former patients.
Asked to work at Dorset, Ontario, she hesitated because she would have to learn to drive a car. Finally persuaded, she practiced in Toronto’s Yonge-Bloor area during the winter. Undaunted by hazardous road conditions, she earned her license and journeyed in a Model T. Ford to Dorset. While tending to patients in town and in the rural area, Helen had a few ‘misadventures’ with the car, but enjoyed her work and treasured life-long friendships formed there.
Public Health Nursing in Wawa, Ontario
During World War II, work in remote areas of Ontario was readily available. At Wawa, Ontario north of Sault Ste. Marie, frequent requests sent to the government for on-site medical services were ignored. When a worker in the open-pit iron mine died from injuries the union objected strongly to lack of proper medical attention. Due to the industry’s high priority, the problem was given swift attention.
Nurse Gardner travelled by train to her new job. As the doctor from Hawk Junction made infrequent visits to the mine, Helen carried the main workload which consisted not only of work-induced injuries, but also in-the-home problems of women and children. Seriously ill patients were transferred to the hospital at Sault Ste. Marie by bush plane and Helen was thrilled by the experience of viewing the vast northland from above.
Helen Gardner's Independence
Helen was “in almost every town in Ontario teaching, administering, assisting, and guiding as a Public Health Nurse”. She spent her last few years in a nursing home located near her niece’s residence. Strong of character, she commented at the age of ninety that she was proud that she lived up to her own high standards of complete independence.
