Grenfell Mission Nurses

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The nurses of the Grenfell Mission of northern Newfoundland, Labrador, and Quebec’s Lower North Shore were the backbone of the philanthropic medical organization. Established in 1892 by British physician Sir Wilfred Grenfell, the organization operated well into the twentieth century, providing medical care to isolated communities.

Nurse Ivy Durley, left, with an unidentified man and child, possibly in Labrador, circa 1940s.
Courtesy of Heidi Coombs-Thorne
Nurses Ivey Durley and Win Burgess with friends at Flower's Cove, Newfoundland, circa 1940s.
Memorial University
Nurse Kathleen "Jo" Lutely with snowshoes she used for her journeys on foot to see patients, circa 1940s.
Memorial University
Grenfell nurses at St. Anthony, Newfoundland, with sled to transport medical supplies on foot.
The Rooms Provincial Archives
Battle Harbour Hospital, the first Grenfell hospital to be established in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Rooms Provincial Archives
Mutton Bay nursing station in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Rooms Provincial Archives
Young women rest in the interior of the Flower's Cove nursing station, where nurses worked and lived.
The Rooms Provincial Archives
A nurse reads to a young patient at Battle Harbour Hospital, 1893.
The Rooms Provincial Archives
Battle Harbour Hospital, circa 1893.
Memorial University
Dr. Wilfred Grenfell treats a patient on the SS Strathcona, a Grenfell Mission medical ship.
The Rooms Provincial Archives

Prior to Grenfell’s arrival, the region relied on occasional doctors sent north by the Newfoundland government, as well as basic medical services provide by the Moravian Mission. The medical missionary vowed to help “the unhappy souls that were imprisoned in ice for half the year, and cursed with privation and sickness always.”

He developed a network of regional hospitals and nursing stations staffed by highly qualified doctors and nurses from around the world.

Nursing stations were often staffed by nurses alone, who often had to deal with medical emergencies without physicians being present. It was routine for the Grenfell Mission nurses to pull teeth, sew up wounds, save animals, and deliver many, many babies. They also travelled long distances by dog sled, boat, on foot, and, later, by airplane, to see their patients.