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THE BRUNSW ICK

MEDICA L CENTER

FOLK MEDICIN ES Some of the old-time home remedies recalled include the following:

The Brunswick Medical Center finally materialized in the Fall of 1980. The medical center was a dream in the making since 1968. The seed that grew into a $541,000 medical center was first planted in January 1968, when Brunswick had only two doctors. The town was growing and the residents realized that two doctors were not enough to meet the needs of the community. A medical center corporation was formed and the search for doctors was begun, but that was not successful.In the mid 1970's two new doctors and a dentist moved into the Brunswick area and they tried to build their own medical center, but they also ceased their efforts because the sewer service to the property they had selected would have cost about $100,000. The original medical center corporation was reactivated in 1979, and after battling bureaucrati c delays they finally got the Farmers Home Administration to approve a $541,200 loan in March of 1980. The town donated a one-third acre tract at Ninth Avenue and Cummings Drive with the stipulation that the Medical Corporation retain its non-profit status. The loan would be paid off through rental fees. The office space would rent for $6 to $8 per square foot. The 6,500 square-foot structure was built by Stamper Constructio n Corporation of Hagerstown , Md., for $433,900. The balance of the FmHA loan would pay the interest and legal and architectural fees. It was planned that there would be an ambulance entrance on the side of the building and that a doctor would be on call for emergencies. The only equipment that the Medical Center Corporation provided was a defibralator, which was donated by the Brunswick Ambulance Company, and the X-ray machine,_ which cost $15,000. The Medical Center Corporation had only $9,000 for the device but hoped to raise the rest of the money by the time the center was to be opened: The 1990 officers and board members serving since the original organization in 1980 are Joanne Runkles, President; Herb Daugherty, Vice President; Nancy Mohler, Secretary; Norma Wigfield, Treasurer; William Sauser, Legal; Mel Taylor, Dr. Henry Rojewski, Jim Cox, Gary Barkman, Arlene King, Pete Maynard, C. Wayne Carter, Lee Smith, and Raymond Will. Brunswick's twelve-year dream for a medical center was realized when the center opened in 1980; it was finally a "Dream Come True."

• Spring tonic: sulphur and molasses. • Sassafras tea: in the spring. • Rusty bacon: keep bacon out of refrigerator until rancid, then scrape from it and place under a bandage on a boil, pimple, or rusty nail puncture or a cut. • Lily petals steeped in whiskey for colds. • Coal oil mixed with sugar for the croup. • Rock candy cough syrup. • Cresoline lamp for respiratory problems. • Vinegar in molasses for a cough. • Teaspoon of whiskey held in the mouth for toothache. • Aspirin and cider for the flu. • Wash-bluin g mixed with water for whooping cough. • Goose grease applied to the chest for chest colds. W-BLC

FLU EPIDEMIC The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 struck Brunswick just as it did many other towns and cities in the country. "Dutch" Burns remembers seeing the bodies of 29 victims on the floor of the Feete Furniture Factory, which was on the lot where Feete's apartment house now stands in the junction of Petersville Road and Maryland Avenue. In addition, the undertaking establishme nt was overfilled with the dead. Precautions were taken against the dread disease. One supposed preventive was an asafetida bag worn around the neck. Asafetida was a fetid gum resin of oriental plants used in folk medicine against disease; this is no longer widely practiced. One person remembers hog manure being used heated as a poultice and applied to the chest. The mother on whom this was used survived the flu attack. Hot onions were also used as a poultice, a mass of heated material applied to an infected area. Every evening after school, Dutch remembers being dosed with a drink of coal oil and sugar taken as he ate a raw onion. Before retiring to bed, many people took a "hot pot," which consisted of a small amount of whiskey, sugar and hot water. One couple "stayed drunk to avoid the flu." The sick were quarantined . The entire Snoots family- parents and four children - were in the

S - Joanne Runkles

W - BLC

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