#523 The Rock Vs The Grip

 Fun Fact #523

The Rock Vs The Grip

In 1917, As the world burned with war, quietly, a new threat appeared. It would hit patients hard causing a Cytokine Storm (Rapid uncontrolled release of pro-inflammatory molecules used to fight infection within the body) resulting in multisystem Organ failure in less than 3 days. The Italians called it “The German Disease”, The French Called it “The Grip” and to the common soldier it was “The Purple Death”. However today it is commonly remembered by a different name: “The Spanish Flu” and in September 1918, it invaded Rockford.

The Flu hit Camp Grant first before spreading to the rest of the city, taking the lives of over 1,000 soldiers and 323 Civilians in just the first 2 months. Yet Rockford fared better than most cities in the world.

While most places were overwhelmed by the sudden influx of patients, Rockford’s Swedish American hospital had just opened the previous spring. They were among the first medical institutions in Northern Illinois to operate off of Germ theory instead of Measma (Bad Air) and had already begun teaching much of the local population about basic medical care, allowing many to effectively treat their loved ones at home before organ failure could set in. 

Then came the news, 

Of the entire world the place hardest hit by the Flu was Philadelphia, with a death toll of over 1,000 a day. Simply put, there were not enough Doctors for patients, or Caskets and Graves for the dead. Thus the Residents of Rockford unofficially declared war and within a week over 200 Rockfordians were en route to Philadelphia with more on the way. Most of those sent were volunteers, getting to the East Coast by any means possible --some staying at towns along the way to assist populations there suffering from the Flu. Those Swedes had trained helped the sick, while others built caskets or dug graves. In the case of one woman, she did the only thing she could and comforted the dying so they wouldn’t die alone since so many people were abandoned by their terrified families.

 By the time the Flu ended many of those who returned to Rockford feared they may have lost everything but most found that their families and even some of the local businesses had ensured they would have Homes and Jobs to return home to. The Pioneer Seedsman Company even paid several of the volunteers “Backpay” for Advertising Rockford’s Goodwill at great personal cost. Of those Volunteers who Rockford learned had succumbed to the Flu themselves, their families held memorial services when they could, but some families never did learn what happened to their missing members. In the end thanks to the volunteer nature of the operation, it is not known just how many people of Rockford left to help other cities, with most of the information for today's Fun Fact coming from second hand accounts written after the fact.

Rockford would indeed suffer from the pandemic, and many of its people would die in The Great War, both in Europe fighting the Axis powers, and in the US fighting the Flu wherever it could be found. But, no matter the field one thing was for sure, Rockford has always cared. Please over this memorial day remember those who have fallen defending the US both at home and abroad. Thank you and please have a wonderful Memorial Day.

Image of Camp Grant in 1918 from roughly 1,00 feet up. L.O.C. control # 2007664247

Aerial Photo Co. Of America, Copyright Claimant. Aerial view, Camp Grant, Ill.,ft. elevation. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2007664247/>.