Staying healthy on the prairie, 1884

1880s doctor on a house call into the country. The horse knew the way home, as the doctor slept.

The wife of a ranchman living northwest of here in Hayes County, was thrown from a wagon a few days ago, and suffered a broken arm. She lived more than 40 miles from the nearest surgeon. The weather and roads made it impossible for her to reach his office. She, with the assistance of her brother, who has no knowledge at all of surgery, set the fractured bone, and it is reported she is getting along nicely.

The greatest hardship suffered by the pioneer is sickness. Fortunately, most of the early settlers are blessed with good health. Most of them are young in years. Most of them have come from farms and small towns of the Plains states where living conditions are better than they are in any other part of the world. Here most men and women are mentally and physically healthy. Most of them lead, for civilized beings, normal lives. Our climate is healthful. Moreover, living conditions, while primitive, are probably, for that very reason, wholesome. In the settlements -- especially in McCook -- typhoid fever -- though it is not usually called by that name -- is more or less prevalent. In fact, in the two summers of this town's life, a number of cases have occurred -- far too many in so small a population. The disease is called, sometimes, mountain fever, because of a notion, probably unfounded, that it is more common or more virulent or more frequently fatal in high altitudes. Generally, it is called simply, "The Fever."

Those who have been afflicted have invariably been newcomers, without friends and with small means. The community, of course, has no hospital, no nurses and only two physicians who, when need for their services arises, serve not only McCook and its environs, but the vast thinly peopled territory for 25 miles to the North and South and for 100 miles to the west. Indianola has a physician, as does Culbertson, but these four men, who might easily administer to the sick calls of a larger population, if it was concentrated within a limited area, frequently answer calls that keep them away from the office two or three days at a time.

Doctors made house calls winter and summer in 1884.

The young person here, alone, whose only abode is a hotel bedroom, furnished with the barest necessities, is unfortunate indeed if he falls sick with "The Fever." Not less distressing -- perhaps more so -- is it when a husband or wife, living in one of the little shacks that is called a dwelling house in this new community, which is set on the sun baked hillside, comes down with the dread disease. Before the first one in the family recovers, it often happens that the other succumbs -- from over work and anxiety, and if there are small children -- and frequently there are -- the situation becomes appalling. Usually the money runs out and then nothing remains but for the charitably disposed to take charge. The authorities, if there were authorities -- there are none -- would probably be unable, from lack of power and from lack of money to do anything. The care of the sick has taxed the physical and the financial resources of this little town -- but everyone in need of help has been given every attention that was possible.

But illness or injury, coming to those who live remote from the towns is often tragedy. Many residents of the towns, and a large number of those who live in the country, not from necessity, because there is no greater need here that there is in older settled lands, go armed. A disproportionately large number of injuries from gun shot wounds occur. Few of these are intentionally inflicted, though once in a while, during a quarrel, pistols and even rifles are brought into play, and injuries are sustained hat sometimes result in fatalities. Careless handling, rather than deliberation, is responsible for the greater number of such casualties.

Horses, without question, are the cause of more accidents than any other agency. Broken arms and broken legs are not infrequently suffered, and sometimes, death is due to a broken neck! Except for oxen, which are usually trailable, the horse is the universal vehicle of locomotion. Many homesteaders were town bred and had no acquaintance with horses before they came to this part of the country, but even those who were accustomed to handling eastern horses find the prairie bronco quite a different sort of beast.

Early McCook Dr. Z.L. Kay.

A serious accident or a severe illness strikes terror to the heart of those who live far from town. It means first a long ride on horseback to the nearest settlement, by one whose help may be required by the sufferer, and whose ministrations can be illy spared. It means a long journey for the doctor before he can reach his patient. It may mean an operation under inconceivable handicaps. The first visit from the physician is usually the only visit. A crisis must be met by those in attendance, without the benefit of experienced advice. It is not strange that the real pioneer becomes resourceful. Nor is it strange that they age prematurely.

One of McCook's early physicians was Dr. Z.L. Kay, who was a graduate of the Medical School of Louisville, KY. Dr. Kay's medical practice in McCook spanned five decades, from the pioneering struggles of the 1880s to the discouragement of the "Dust Bowl 30s." From the McCook Gazette's Centennial Edition, 1882-1982: When he died, in 1937, the McCook Gazette paid tribute to Dr. Kay as "the most beloved man in the city.

It was estimated that during his practice Dr. Kay had delivered more than 3,000 babies. They did not keep track of the number of surgical cases, or the diphtherias or measles cases that he had handled during that time.

"His ability and noble character soon won for him an extensive practice and early settlers recall how this pioneer physician overrode all the obstacles of the frontier to alleviate pain and suffering in this section of the state. As an ingenious person, he invented and improved methods and instruments where they were lacking in those early days.

"Dr. Kay apparently had better advice for his patients than he practiced for himself. He was a familiar figure downtown, ever smoking a big cigar, even while he forbade his patients to smoke. He also frequented downtown restaurants for between-meal snacks, which was another practice upon which he frowned upon for others.

"Dr. Kay was long-time chairman of the local "Sanity Board," where his tolerance and open-mindedness endeared him and made him the confidante of many person the board interviewed. He was said to have remarkably shrewd insight, for a man who had little formal training in psychology.

Dr. Kay was the father of Elmer Kay, long-time Clerk of the District Court, breeder of fine trotting horses, whose foals were in demand by trotting hose owners across the Midwest. Elmer Kay was the instigator of most of the early buildings, grandstand, racing track, and stables, in his capacity as perennial Chairman of the Red Willow County Fair Board, at the time probably the number one County Fair in the state.

Source: H.P. Waite collection of McCook Tribune newspapers.

McCook Gazette Centennial Edition 1882-1982