Mrs. Frank Thunder: Ke wed nok
1900 - 1982
Picture Courtesy of the Milwaukee
Public Museum
Ke wed nok is the Potawatomi for North Wind. Ke wed nok made Indian medicine from bark, roots, leaves, snakes, purple flowers and herbs. She did not sell the medicine, but instead she received blankets and other gifts. Ke wed nok lived a long life and was an inspiration to many
Before the ambulance, how did people get to the hospital when they became sick or injured? Before there were hospitals where did people go to get well or taken care of? As long as humankind has had disease, they have had the desire to cure and heal disease. According to The World Book Encyclopedia in prehistoric times, many people believed the gods were angry with you if you showed signs of an illness. The way to rid you of the "disease" was to drive the evil spirits out. The first surgical procedure was called trepanning which was the practice of putting a hole through your skull to release the spirits.
Before european medicine came in contact with Native Americans, our healer was the Medicine Man. He knew all the medicines and way of healing. Billy Daniels Jr. remembers, before Dr. Ison came to the Northwoods, the elders and parents would care for the sick children and tribal members with nature and healing ceremonies. He said, "My parents knew the medicine. My father knew a lot and they would come to see him if they needed. My mother was blind for awhile and he healed her. My uncle lost his sight and my father brought his sight back." There were many things that was used from nature such as the trees, leaves, roots and other things to heal with. Healing ceremonies were used to help the medicine men to see what the problem was with the sick. They would be told what was wrong and what the sick should do to help themselves get better. Billy mentioned that our medicine left over forty years ago for the reason, "Women with their power, their Moon (their menstrual cycle) cut the mens' power. They were to stay away. My father told me, during my time their will be no more medicine. Men will lose their power because of this."
European medicine was brought to the Northern Wisconsin area in the early 1900s by doctors who were hired by the logging companies. They needed to keep permanent medical assistance on hand because of the many logging accidents which occurred. While performing their daily duties at the camps the doctors would trek long hauls to make house calls to the surrounding communities.
In the book, Memories of Forest County, (funded by a grant through NEWCAP, 1980), describes the experience of Dr Ovitz, who had been hired by the Connor Lumber and Land Company. "A terrible blizzard was sweeping through Northern Wisconsin, piling snowdrifts six feet deep on the ribbon that cut through the virgin timber of Forest County. By midnight, the temperature had dropped to forty below and the frozen pines cracked like rifles in the raw, moaning wind."
"Through this dark wilderness trekked a solitary figure, the distant howling of a wolf pack promoting the urgent swing of his snowshoes (and) with a confinement pack strapped to his back, Dr. Ernest Ovitz of Laona was carrying the benefits of medical science to aid a difficult delivery in a frontier settlement nine miles distant."
"There were times when it was so bitterly cold that my legs were numb from the thighs down," Dr. Ovitz, now in his eighties recalls, "And after a punishing trip like that tears would literally come to my eyes when I got within sight of the lights of the town."
"Hired by the government to treat the local Indians living in the woods, Dr. Ovitz was often guided into the snowy woodlands by Henry Ritchie, a Potawatomi interpreter."
Mary Wensaut, an elder of the Forest County Potawatomi, recalls her younger days when elderly, as middle maids (mid-wives), took care of ill tribal members. Mary was cared for by her grandparents after her mother passed on. Mary caught a cold, her grandparents didn't know of hospitals or sanatoriums', so she was sent off to school. One fall, a lot of children came down with measles or small pox and later was found to have tuberculosis( TB), and they immediately were sent to a hospital or boarding school far away. Mary was sent to the Sac and Fox Sanitarium in Toledo, Iowa. There were a lot of different nationalities there. There were also a lot of sick children there, with polio and such diseases. The well children were put together with these sick children. How many caught their diseases from the place that was to heal them? After catching a cold at the age of five, and spending eight and a half years at the hospital Mary came home in 1933.
There were dentists around the Forest County area, but when you had a toothache or a bad tooth they would just jerk the tooth out. Mary remembers, "Those days they didn't freeze your teeth. They'd just look at them and check them and pull the baby ones out. I had to go through lots of painful experiences." She reminds us of the way the old Indians used to live off the land and close to Mother Nature, "The elderly didn't used to have all those diseases in those days. They lived close to Mother Nature. All the trees that bears fruits, the bark was used, the roots were used to make teas. Same with the berries and the leaves. All was used. Now days you get sick with all the pollution in the air. Another thing that an old man was telling me was that you got the wrong attitude. Your own reactions affects your whole body. I found that out for myself a few years ago. Before the hospitals were built." Mary said, "One day we had to go to Crandon, a whole bunch of us. There used to be X-ray buses. People would get shots, polio shots, TB shots and whatever. One day when he (her husband) went to that bus, the report came back that he had an enlarged heart, and I explained that to him. He said how can they tell, so I told him it was a negative picture, a picture of a heart in there. I said x-rays don't lie. He came to understand." She added, "It's pretty tough living in two kinds of worlds but you have to be careful. Living in your own world and the white world mixed in together. "It's tough. You just got to try to live in peace with each other and help one another. Otherwise we're never going to have no peace in this world."
"It was in the '40s we had doctors here in Crandon we could go to. There are some people that don't want to go in. They don't believe in doctors. Some of the elderly won't go in. Some of them couldn't speak English so I go and interpret for them. I'd explain things to them. But there are some that still won't go in there." Mary explained about today's attitude toward modern medicine.
In the book Some History of Forest County by Keith Jesse the following insert is referring to the time his father John M Jesse became ill:
In the latter part of the summer that we live in Page Camp, Pa came down with inflammatory rheumatism. Doctor Diamond used to come up to see him, and finally told mother that he would never be able to walk again. Pa was confined to bed constantly and he got so he could not even feed himself. The situation became pretty desperate and Doctor Diamond used to come about twice a week, he just said there wasn't too much he could do. One day a Native American and his wife came through there, they had been picking ginseng. They had two Duluth packsacks full of it. They stopped at the camp and asked my mother for a drink of water. We had a pump outside of the camp, and she gave them a dipper and they sat there drinking water and cooling off. It was about ninety-five degrees in the shade that particular day. This man inquired as to where my father was and mother told him what had happened, He knew my father well as he has worked on the same landing where my father had worked at (Railroad) Siding 4 during the winter of 1907 or 1908. He came into the house and after talking with father a few minutes he told Pa that he would have him walking in two weeks, (This was the man that brought me my first dog.) He asked mother for a pail, and went down into the swamp and came back with that pail full of some kind of leaves off of a swamp plant. I do not want to use the name of this plant as it is one of the best arthritis medicines there is in the world. I do not know why the Medical Science does not use it today. The man brewed a tea out of these leaves, it got real dark like a heavy syrup and he told my Father to drink three glasses of this brew a day and he would be back in a few days to make up some more for him.
In two weeks my Father was outside walking around and in a month he was back out splitting wood and doing some light work around the place. After about three months all symptoms left him from the rheumatism or arthritis or whatever it was and he never had another pain in his body for the rest of his life from that ailment.
Native Americans were always welcome at our camp or at our home. Mother always fed them. They were good friends of the family. They would always bring a little something along like some maple syrup or wild rice for us to have.
Clarice Werle, FCP Historical/Cultural Research Coordinator, stated, "Traditional medicine should be a part of today's medical attention given to tribal people." "It's important to have such a cultural characteristic available and strongly practiced to keep that part of our being alive. She said in the '50s about one half of the babies born to the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe were delivered at the Hayward Indian Hospital in Hayward, WI. Women were sent to the hospital well in advance of her delivery date which could have been up to a month or longer. They would just wait there until the birth of their child.
Today we are fortunate to have a Health & Wellness Center. This smoke free facility has been open since March 1995. In it there is a Medical, Dental, Behavioral Health, Human Services, Community Health, and a Pharmacy all under the same roof.
In the Medical Department there is a Medical Director, Family Nurse Practitioner, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, two Registered Nurses, a Lab and x-ray Technician, and a Medical Records Clerk.
The Dental Department consists of a Dentist, Dental Assistant, and a Dental Hygienist.
The Behavioral Health Department has an AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse) Counselor, an Adolescent Counselor, two Mental Health Therapists, a Psychiatrist, and a Domestic Abuse Counselor. There is a Pharmacy.
The Human Service Department has a Human Service Facilitator, I.C.W. (Indian Child Welfare), a Parenting Coordinator, and a Community Cares Coordinator.
In Community Health there is a Community Health Nurse, Maternal Child Health, WIC, Nutritionist, C.H.R., and a Transporter.
The Business office has a Manager, Contract Health Specialist, Insurance Specialist, Benefits Coordinator, and a Benefits Outreach Coordinator.
Physical, occupational, and Speech Therapy are also available.
A Podiatrist comes to the Health Center twice a month and an Audiologist is there every other month.
There is a diabetic support group, weekly youth groups, lamaze classes, CPR classes, and also mammography services available at the Health and Wellness Center.
The Elderly department provides some health services for the elderly. They transport the elders to their doctor appointments. They have three vehicles to do this with: a bus with a wheel chair lift for the handicap, an eight and a twelve passenger van. In-home nursing services are also available where the elders get their blood, sugar, and their feet checked two to three times a week. In-home health care providers (24 hour care) do daily household chores and even help them get some exercise, they live with the elders who need it. Certification classes for this are provided by the elderly department.
The elderly department also deliver meals to the homebound for lunch or the elderly are welcome to come to the nutrition site to eat.
The elderly department also takes elders to seminars where there are guest speakers such as: nurses, psychiatrists, Judicare, and people to talk to them about social security, medicare and medicaid.
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