This was the mid-thirties in the thick of the depression. Dr. Mather had been our Doctor since about 1926 shortly after the death of my uncle Dr. Jack (John) Carnduff. For about a year Dr. Mather was here on his own and then went to Winnipeg and married Evelyn Frith, a nurse who had been training in the Miseracordia Hospital there. They came and settled down in Antler where Dr. Mather went into practice in earnest....
There was a hospital at Arcola on our line but that was 60 miles to the west and then there was Souris Hospital about 60 miles to the east in Manitoba. There were also hospitals in Virden and at Moosomin, but the roads weren't too good and many times impassable during the winter months. So about 1936 Dr. Mather decided to open a hospital here in Antler. He bought a big home that had belonged to a Dr. Hunter and then he proceeded to turn it into a hospital. The community helped to some extent and he wound up with an eight bed facility with a small operating room and a bedroom for the Matron.
He persuaded a nurse who had also worked with him at the Miseracordia to come and work in Antler. She had finished training and was, at that time, living with her mother in Elva, Manitoba and doing a little nursing. Her name was Mossie Mainland. She and her mother, who was a widow, undertook to run Mather's hospital. Mossie was a fine compassionate nurse and her Mum was a grand lady. The two of them took well in the community. From time to time, Mossie had a girl who helped as a practical nurse as well as a girl who was employed as a cook. There was a man who acted as a janitor, not there all the time but did certain chores every other day. There was no running water in those days, and a coal & wood cook stove plus a good large coal furnace in the basement was used for heating. I recall for a long time they used the stove oven to sterilize instruments, bandages, etc. Eventually there were able to get a small electric sterilizer which was a big help. The Doctor, defining what he wanted, had the local carpenter (Bill Elliott) and the blacksmith constructing an operating table. It was quite a contraption but sturdy and well served the purpose.
I was around the hospital a lot, chiefly because of the nurses but I often helped with little chores as well. Sometimes I even sat with patients who needed watching and the rest of the people were too busy. A lot of the patients were kids who had had their tonsils out; One time I watched a guy still strapped on the operating table while the Doctor & nurse got a bite to eat. Occasionally it would be an elderly person who had to be watched at night so they might not roll out of the bed.
The hospital did have electricity. There was a local plant which only operated from dark until midnight except Saturday night when it would go until 1am. This plant, operated by Joe Gauthier, gave yeoman service. If the Doctor had to operate in the day time, Gauthier would start the plant up so that they had power for the suction apparatus, etc.
The hospital was a rather crude facility but served the area well. The area itself was quite a big one and the hospital saved many a life. I remember Mr. Stuckey, a local man, who was terribly sick and it was a weekend so no trains on Sunday. Dr. Mather wasn't sure what was wrong but he knew it was a bowel obstruction of some kind and that something had to be done - and fast! He consulted by phone with his friend and cohort, a Dr. Fraser in Souris. They came to the conclusion that he should operate, which he did. Stuckey was a very sick man for quite some time but he lived, which was a marvel. I recall helping carry him down the stairs when they took him home, on the dray man's sleigh.
Another such case was a man from Redvers who developed a bad case of appendicitis. They had to bring him ten miles by sleigh into Redvers where they put him on the train in the baggage car and on to Antler hospital where again Dr. Mather needed to operate. The man was a terribly sick man but because of Antler Hospital, his life was saved. There were many such cases.
I remember a Matron they once hired who acted rather peculiar. She would prefer doing some of the domestic tasks rather than look after the patients. They suspected she was on drugs, and as it turned out, she was. She was then taken to Weyburn and later transferred to Brandon. Years later someone was cleaning out the eavestroughs and above the Matron's room window, they found a cache of pills.
These are just a few of the colourful stories of the hospital while it was in operation. Due to the changing times, lack of Doctors, and competition from larger centers, Antler Hospital eventually closed around 1958.
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