Volunteer nurses, 1918.

These volunteer nurses worked at the King George V Seamen’s Institute during the Spanish influenza pandemic. Located in downtown St. John’s, the institute served as a temporary 32-bed hospital to help treat influenza victims. When the pandemic broke out, many of Newfoundland and Labrador’s medical personnel were serving overseas in the First World War. This caused the country to experience a severe shortage of health-care workers and prompted the Public Health Division to publish appeals for nurses and volunteers in local newspapers.

Photo by J.C. Parsons. Reproduced from The Newfoundland Quarterly 18.4 (1918), 21.