{"id":2342,"date":"2020-04-26T23:28:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T04:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/?p=2342"},"modified":"2020-04-27T12:26:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T17:26:40","slug":"wilmington-needed-ambulances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wilmington-needed-ambulances\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilmington Needed Ambulances When the Spanish Influenza Struck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the City of Wilmington marshaled its resources for the deadly struggle to alleviate suffering during the pandemic of 1918, branches of local government rendered unwavering service combating the so-called Spanish Influenza.  One of the most challenged governmental operations, the ambulances, toiled under great strain. The division’s never-ending, tough work made even tougher by unprecedented \u201cheart-breaking calls\u201d left the crews reeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The City of Wilmington started contracting with the Phoenix Fire Company in 1877 to operate the emergency transport system.  Forty-one years later as the calendar turned to a tragic year, 1918, the Phoenix Ambulances struggled with a heavy workload, the City\u2019s booming industries pushing everything to the limit to meet war demand.  Then once autumn arrived the virus crept into the City as doctors started reporting cases of a mysterious infection.  Some of these were so severe that they needed hospitalization.((“Close All Public Places,” Evening Journal, Oct. 1, 1918))<\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward the end of September, a handful of emergency calls turned into an unimaginable influx.  Around the hospital at Ninth Street and Delaware Avenue, the ambulance gong clanged continuously night and day, the units hardly able to carry all the sick.  Consequently, people started pressing their automobiles into service, their mission being indicated by Red Cross flags, as they brought \u201cmen wrapped up in blankets to the hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The calls surpassed what the City could handle so a plea to help the overburdened system went out on October 5, asking for assistance to increase medical transportation capacity.  The Fame Fire Company, another city volunteer firefighting organization, promptly put one if its wagons in service as an ambulance, the men removing the hose and placing mattresses in the bed of the truck.  And the police patrol unit was pressed into duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ambulances
The Wilmington Motorized Patrol Wagon around 1915. (Source: Delaware Public Archives)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Additional units came from outside the City.  The Delaware College in Newark volunteered its vehicle, and the Board of Health arranged to use the New Castle County Hospital Ambulance stationed at Farnhurst, along with the \u201cfederal ambulance from the guards\u2019 barrack.\u201d((“Delaware College Ambulance Helps in Wilmington,” Newark Post, <\/em>Oct. 2, 1918))<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The significantly increased force went to work immediately.  They made trips all day and night at top speed, without pause, one of the most frequent sights being \u201can ambulance dashing frantically up the street,\u201d wrote the News Journal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crewing the college unit, the first day, student Wayne Brewer, spent practically all-night Thursday carrying patients to hospitals.  Other students included Robert L. Barkley, Marion P. Boulden, L L. Cobb, Thomas W. Mulroony and J. J. Harold Kolhman, according to the Newark Post.<\/em> ((“Delaware College Ambulance Helps in Wilmington,” Newark Post, <\/em>October, 2, 1918.))<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Phoenix vehicles made 632 calls as of October 16, 1918.  George McVey and Joseph Bonifacino, Jr. chauffeured these wagons \u201con the day and night cruises of mercy and the attendant sights and scenes of the plagues harvest touched the extremes of human compassion,\u201d the Morning News reported. \u201cTheir visits were often to homes containing the dead, dying and near dead in scenes of squalor where the healthy would be taxed to live. . . .They spoke of unspeakable sadness.\u201d ((“Phoenix Ambulance Makes 632 Call,” Morning News<\/em>, Oct. 17, 1918))<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, on October 22, the Phoenix crew had its first quiet day in weeks, responding to only one call.  The men had worked hard the past three weeks, and the respite was a treat to them a reporter advised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scenes that unfolded 102-years-old are unimaginable.  Here\u2019s how the news journal described those dark, dark days: \u201cIn these stress times of war and pestilence this fact is not to be overlooked \u2013 that those who man the ambulances deserve no less credit than those overseas who man the guns.  In the trying day and night duty there had been no faltering or murmuring,\u201d an Evening Journal reporter wrote.  They had \u201csteeled their emotion of compassion so that it wouldn\u2019t interfere with the course of their duty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The influenza severely hit the ambulance service as the volunteer crew did what they could.\u00a0 At a time when people in the City stayed home to escape the virus, the ambulance attendants did what they had to \u2013 rushing into the homes of the sick and infected to offer aid. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next year, at the request of the Phoenix Fire Company, the Wilmington Police Department assumed responsibility for running the ambulances.  Beginning November 17, 1919, the police ambulance, a dark green Cadillac with a Red Cross on the side and the words police ambulance on the body, went into service.  The fire company sold the old Phoenix units, as Wilmington Police Chief Black appointed  Officers Graham and Robinson to serve as drivers and Grussemeyer and Norman W. Brown worked as police attendants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strain the highly contagious virus put on Wilmington\u2019s volunteer fire companies had been enormous.  But, the men enlisted on the very front lines of this deadly struggle in Wilmington had stayed strong, holding up under the constant pressure of unparalleled stress and uncertainty while constantly facing death.  Now, 102-years-later, it\u2019s not unlike today as first responders all across the nation battle another virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on the Spanish Influenza in Wilmington See<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Wilmington Nurses Paid a Heavy Toll<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more articles see the Delmarva Spanish Flu Archive.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the City of Wilmington marshaled its resources for the deadly struggle to alleviate suffering during the pandemic of 1918, branches of local government rendered unwavering service combating the so-called Spanish Influenza.  One of the most challenged governmental operations, the ambulances, toiled under great strain. The division’s never-ending, tough work made even tougher by unprecedented…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWilmington Needed Ambulances When the Spanish Influenza Struck -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the pandemic of 1918 hit Wilmington Delaware, the city's ambulance service was overwhelmed. 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With sickness everywhere that October, doctors and ambulances could not keep up.\u00a0 Gongs rang continuously on the streets day and night as the emergency vehicles rushed the most critical cases to Homeopathic, Delaware, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delaware"","block_context":{"text":"Delaware","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/delaware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/spanish-flu-wilmington-oct-3-1918-evening-journal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/spanish-flu-wilmington-oct-3-1918-evening-journal.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/spanish-flu-wilmington-oct-3-1918-evening-journal.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delaware"","block_context":{"text":"Delaware","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/delaware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-09-12_8-58-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-09-12_8-58-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-09-12_8-58-10.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2020-09-12_8-58-10.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2487,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/influenza-new-castle-county-workhouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":2342,"position":2},"title":"Influenza Hit New Castle County Workhouse Hard in 1918","author":"Mike","date":"August 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"After influenza struck Wilmington in the autumn of 1918, concerned officials at the New Castle County Workhouse struggled to keep the county prison from becoming a hot spot.\u00a0 In the tight cells and confined, overcrowded spaces at Greenbank isolation or what we today call social distancing was impossible.\u00a0 Thus, Warden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Criminal Justice"","block_context":{"text":"Criminal Justice","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/criminal-justice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-22_21-58-02.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-22_21-58-02.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-22_21-58-02.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-22_21-58-02.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2568,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/delaware-libraries-serve-during-pandemic\/","url_meta":{"origin":2342,"position":3},"title":"Delaware Libraries & Archives Facilitate Research During Pandemic","author":"Mike","date":"September 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When COVID-19 disrupted everyday life in March, the research I had been working on for over a year, the pandemic of 1918, took on greater urgency.\u00a0 But, the storehouses of primary documents I needed to provide deeper insight for the investigation closed.\u00a0 Of course, I mined the great abundance of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Spanish Flu"","block_context":{"text":"Spanish Flu","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/spanish-flu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/delaware-hospital-osteophatic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/delaware-hospital-osteophatic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/delaware-hospital-osteophatic.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/delaware-hospital-osteophatic.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2637,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/delaware-hospitals-overwhelmed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2342,"position":4},"title":"Delaware Hospitals Overwhelmed during Pandemic of 1918","author":"Mike","date":"January 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"After that deadly killer, the Spanish flu, slipped silently into Delaware in 1918, a devastating autumn outbreak crushed the state\u2019s health care system.\u00a0 By the middle of September, the pathogen started making considerable inroads in New Castle County, and in the waning days of the month, nearly a thousand Wilmington\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Spanish Flu"","block_context":{"text":"Spanish Flu","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/spanish-flu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/delaware-breakwater-hospital-acgi-website.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2479,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/pandemic-of-1918-in-salem-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":2342,"position":5},"title":"Researching the Pandemic of 1918 in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. Corridor","author":"Mike","date":"August 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of my current research is focused on investigating the impact of the 1918 pandemic in communities along an extended corridor stretching from Baltimore to Philadelphia. This work has or will take me to cities and counties along I-95, as well as jurisdictions near this region. In the summer of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research Methods"","block_context":{"text":"Research Methods","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/research-methods\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pandemic in Salem County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/spanish-flu-salem-county20200819_15035831-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}