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I remember when I went with my Uncle Paul and Aunt Mary to visit an aunt who had given birth at the Backus Hospital.

We walked up a long set of stairs to the entrance and walked in. There was a reception desk and a very large board with the names of all of the doctors who practiced there. Each doctor had two lights next to their names, one green (in the hospital) and one red (not in the hospital).

There were no cell phones or beepers to tell the people who was or wasn’t there, but the state-of-the-art lighted board was of interest for a very young child in the early 1950s.

The late 1800s showed great growth for Norwich as the industrial power reached its height with Norwich having coal gas and electricity, Fairview Reservoir, a trolley system, a population close to 23,000 people, 12 textile mills, over 20 schools and eight banks. But Norwich was missing a vital element: a hospital.

Operations for many people were performed either at the patient’s home or the doctor’s office. So, with this in mind, the concept of a hospital became a necessity for this prosperous city.

Two forward-thinking men had a vision for the people of Norwich. William Wolcott Backus and William Albert Slater donated a considerable amount of money in 1891. Mr. Backus gave $139,119.88 in 1891. Today’s value would be nearly $4.3 million (30.9 times the 1891 value)

Mr. Slater’s donation was $370,862 in 1891. The value today would be $11.45 million. Mr. Slater kindly donated the 18 acres that forms the present main campus of the Backus Hospital.

The hospital opened with 63 beds with separate male and female wards, an operation room, an isolation room and a nurses’ residence for its two-year nurse training program.

Two hundred fifty women presented the W.W. Backus Hospital with its first hospital linen. The president of the hospital was Winslow Tracy Williams, with William A. Slater as honorary president. The hospital had a total of 16 people on its staff. Now it is the largest employer in the city, serving a diverse patient population.

Many fine nurses have walked the halls of the hospital helping their patients. In 1907 the hospital added an X-ray department at a time when this new diagnostic tool was in its infancy.

As time went on, new tools were added to assist in diagnosing and caring for patients. Public subscription also assisted in the founding of a nursing school and nursing residence.

The remarks given at the opening of the Norwich Backus Hospital in 1893 show trust in the future. “The formal opening of the William W. Backus Hospital marks the dawn of a new era for the sick and afflicted.”

An early health issue at Backus was the problem with smallpox, a devastating disease, with a death rate of about 3 out of 10 of people inflected that spread through the population quite easily. It was found out that dairymaids were immune to this disease due to the contact they had with cows who had cowpox, a virus which was zoonotic (transferable between species) and related to smallpox.

These women, who had touched the diseased udders of the cows, developed pustules on their hands. Cowpox is a much milder illness than the highly contagious and deadly smallpox disease. Edward Jenner, a British physician, tested the theory that cowpox could protect someone from smallpox.

In later years he popularized his experiment and developed a vaccination (from the Latin, vaccinus for ‘of or from the cow’). With its later incarnation, the vaccines eradicated smallpox as immunity developed worldwide.

Dr. Jenner had noticed cowpox sores on the hands of milkmaid Sarah Nelmes. He then took material from her hand and abraded (inoculated) it into the arm of the 9-year-old (another source stated 8 years old), James Phipps. Months later, Jenner exposed the boy to the smallpox virus, but the child did not develop smallpox. Inoculations have been so successful that by May 8, 1980, the World Health Assembly declared the world free of this dreaded disease.

As with most epidemics, smallpox was caused by the growth of civilization and exploration. A few examples are: 7th century: Arab expansion spread smallpox into Spain, Africa and Portugal; 11th century: Crusades spread smallpox in Europe; 16th century: European and African slave trade spread smallpox into the Caribbean and Central and South America; 17th century: Europeans spread smallpox to the Native American population in North America where in some areas 70% of the Native American population died because they had no resistance.

Native Americans also developed major problems with measles.

On March 3, 1774, a group of Norwich physicians met together, “To prefer a memorial to the General Assembly, at the next session, that the practice of Physic (medicine) may be put under some better regulations.” This action failed at that time and it wasn’t until after the American Revolution that their Medical Society was formed.

In 1775, there were only two medical colleges in the American colonies. Dr. Phillip Turner and Philemon Tracy proposed for the development of a series of lectures on “Anatomy, Physic, and Surgery, and other areas.” They also offered the use of their extensive medical library and the advantage of students being present for “capital operations,” in Norwich.

Doctors Tracy and Turner kept up with the latest medical literature and saw the need for the inoculations for smallpox. But there was deep skepticism within the populous and after a long period of persecution and some minor imprisonment, (people were afraid of this new technique: anti-vax), they were allowed to open a hospital in Norwich to “Inoculate against Smallpox”.

It must be pointed out that Doctor Phillip Turner served as a physician both privately and for the U.S. Army for a total of 55 years. More information about his life and service can be found in Charles B. Graves’ article in the Annals of Medical History 1928, March 10, pages 1-24.

It is a matter of history that the first organized effort to establish professional standards for the practice of medicine was developed in Norwich. To honor this early development, on May 9, 1855, the Connecticut Medical Society held its annual meeting in Norwich at Breeds Hall, the first time ever that it was not held in Hartford.

Norwich’s medical history reveals: first to organize and establish professional standards in the practice of medicine in the nation; Norwich physicians were one of the first to preform successful major operations; began a medical school in Norwich; and Doctors Turner and Tracy established the first medical society in the Americas.

Norwich has had so many fine and caring nurses, internists, specialists and surgeons in its history.

Many local men and women have or are practicing the healing care needed in our city and surrounding areas. New procedures and equipment are found within the walls of the Backus Hospital since its founding 132 years ago by two generous philanthropists, William W. Backus and William A. Slater.

Bill Shannon is a retired Norwich Public School teacher and a lifelong resident of Norwich.

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