The Flu Pandemic of 1918: A Nurse's Story. Issue 11 (November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Johnson, Deborah
• Is Part Of: American journal of nursing. Volume 121:Issue 11(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-11
• Subjects: influenza pandemic of 1918 -- intergenerational relations -- nursing history -- Spanish Flu -- World War I; Nursing -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 610.7305
• DOI: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000799012.83102.ae
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-936X

Abstract

Abstract : ABSTRACT: In the spring of 1918, a virus swept across the world, killing approximately 50 million people by the summer of 1919. My grandmother, Kathryn ("Katie") Ann Darmody—an Irish immigrant who settled in New York State in 1904—was among the nurses who responded to this pandemic, which became known as the 1918 influenza pandemic (or, erroneously, the Spanish flu). Today, as the world contends with the COVID-19 pandemic, my grandmother's experiences resonate with new meaning—a reminder of how, then as now, nurses have been at the forefront of public health. Her story, transmitted across generations, is one I now share with a new generation of nurses. Abstract : The author describes her grandmother's experiences as a nurse during the 1918 influenza pandemic and draws comparisons to nursing during COVID-19.