Snowshoe and Lancet: Memoirs of a Frontier Newfoundland Doctor, 1937-1947

By Robert Skidmore Ecke

Two years out of Johns Hopkins Medical School, Robert Ecke found himself at Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital on the island of Twillingate, Newfoundland. Practicing a form of frontier medicine, the young doctor was soon handling everything from emergency appendectomies to pregnancies. By boat, dog sled, and snowshoes, he traveled to treat people unable or unwilling to come to the hospital.Ecke's journal excerpts are engrossing: "I've been doing a lot of operating; boldly slashing a lip to take out a cancer when it would have terrified me only shortly since. I believe I am beginning to get a feeling for surgery and will try almost anything". Later, aboard ship, "It was dreadful working down in the saloon with patients sliding from side to side (on a table). I had to go ashore every once in a while to get my stomach back". With humor and compassion, he describes this challenging time with the poverty-stricken fishing, families.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0914339850
• ISBN13: 9780914339854
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Peter E Randall Pub
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Newfoundland Outport Tales from a US Doctor

Dr. Ecke's accounts are told with a bit of sterility, but he certainly enjoys his time in Newfoundland. It was a time when medical cures were limited, and the rural diet was a "made do" affair, but the people's spirit is contrasted against the stark landscape. Recommended read, especially for those familiar with the area or with ties to Notre Dame Bay, NF