Episode 5: The Healthiest City

While pandemics can seem to disrupt every facet of our daily lives, they are, at their core, medical crises. This week on The Healthiest City we talk about how doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals face these challenges. We open by talking with an ICU nurse in Milwaukee who worked in the unit that treated the first wave of coronavirus patients back in March, 2020. Then, we explore how doctors and nurses in the past dealt with the flu. Health Commissioner George Ruhland makes another experience, expanding Milwaukee's medical facilities to deal with the sick. But we also discuss what it was like to have the 1918, what treatments doctors could offer, and how nurses felt about their work.

For more information, including photographs and documents from the era, check out https://milwaukeehistory.net/podcast/.