Craigduh School 1926-1943, Health and Wellness

(The camera pans from a dirt road to a grassy field. In the foreground there is a historic marker in the shape of a small school that says Craigduh School Location. The film’s title appears: Health and Wellness. Craigduh School).

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: We had a health check every morning. Every morning someone would go (an older kid) through and asked obvious questions like had we brushed our teeth, whether we combed our hair- whatever we did. And at the end of the inspection, we got a gold star, which was a big thing.

(Leah Uffelman shares memories from her home over zoom)

Leah Uffelman: Mrs. Forton would have us say, “If you cough, sniff or sneeze, use your hanky if you please.” And that’s what we all said together.

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: We had a school nurse come once a year to immunize kids. They immunized all the kids in the community.

(Jean Schwengler shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Jean Schwengler: Not chicken pox, but measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, and then polio. The boys in grade 9, half of them fainted (chuckles) they couldn’t take the shot.

Fred: We had a nurse who used to come and check us over. She checked our hearing and our eyesight, and if you had any sores or whatever.

(Leah Uffelman shares memories from her home over zoom)

Leah Uffelman: In those days, we didn’t talk about anything that happened between your neck and your knees. That was no-no, you’d just talk about it in whispers, it was very, very personal. Your mothers didn’t tell you anything about anything personal. As a kid, I was very curious to know why the certain blue boxes up in the cupboard and why it was there, and when I asked my mother, she said, “Oh that’s ladies’ business.” And if I asked my sisters, they wouldn’t tell me either. They were older. So when the home ec teacher gave a little talk about hygiene and mentioned this to me, so that’s when I kind of learned about ladies’ business.

(Leonard Hagel shares memories from his home over zoom)

Leonard Hagel: I remember the nurse came one day at lunch time and we were in the trees playing and eating our lunch. That didn’t go over with her because it wasn’t clean, you got a little bit of dirt. We always thought a little dirt never hurt anybody.

(Leah Uffelman shares memories from her home over zoom)

Leah Uffelman: I was playing on a teeter- totter and the kids were giving me bumps and whatever children did on a teeter-totter in those days. I fell off, broke my nose, had a concussion and was taken to the General Hospital in Calgary. I remember that very well. Now at that time, it never occurred to anyone that the playground equipment was dangerous. In those days we had big high swings with long ropes and a slab of wood, that if you got hit in the head, it could be very serious, not to mention if you fell off, because somebody would come running behind you and give you a nice push on the swing, especially a high school kid, which happened.

(Matt Schmaltz shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Matt Schmaltz: The water in Beiseker has fluoride in it, it was all well water in those days and dentists would always remark about people from Beiseker had good teeth.

(Jean & Frank Schwengler shares memories at the Beiseker Golden Years Club)

Jean Schwengler: You know you only went when it was necessary to go to the dentist because people didn’t have a lot of money to go to the dentist in those days, so they just didn’t go. Especially when your baby teeth were coming out.

Frank Schwengler: The dentist would come out and stay at the motel and I can remember getting a tooth pulled for $5.00.

(the Beiseker Station Museum logo appears).