The basement of the armory was transformed into a commodious and comfortable dining-room; the kitchen was painted white, made sanitary in every respect, and its floor was covered with oil-cloth, while gas ranges were connected and refrigerators were installed. A diet kitchen (separate from the main kitchen) was established convenient to the main floor of the armory.
On the evening of October 9, upon invitation of the County Medical Inspector, the following-named ladies and gentlemen assembled in the auditorium of the Wilkes-Barré Chamber of Commerce, “for the purpose of taking steps for combating influenza”: Dr. Charles H. Miner, Dr. S. P. Mengel, Dr. G. A. Clark, Dr. E. L. Meyers, Dr. Charles Long, Gen. C. B. Dougherty, Col. S. E. W. Eyer, Lewis P. Kniffen, E. E. Matthews, Anthony C. Campbell, M. J. McLaughlin, John D. Farnham, M. H. Sigafoos, Maj. E. N. Carpenter, William H. Conyngham, Frederick E. Zerbey, George J. Hartman, Hayden Williams, Mrs. C. H. Miner, Mrs. E. Birney Carr and Miss Josephine Tracy of Wilkes-Barré; Dr. W. B. Stricker, Dr. J. Hughes, Michael Douk, T. A. Butkiewicz, C. J. Donahey, John Badman and F. H. Kohlbraker of Nanticoke; R. Alvan Beisel of Hazleton; Mrs. W. A. Lathrop of Dorranceton; Dr. J. A. Hilbert, Miss Esther J. Tinsley, Dr. S. L. Underwood and William J. Peck of Pittston; R. A. Mulhall of West Pittston; Dr. S. B. Arment of Bloomsburg; Dr. D. H. Lake, S. H. Hicks and W. B. Crane of Kingston.
General Dougherty was called upon to preside, and Hayden Williams, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, acted as Secretary of the meeting.
The County Medical Inspector spoke at great length with respect to the work already done in the 5th District to combat the pandemic—referring particularly to the emergency hospital which had been established at Wanamie, in Newport Township, Luzerne County, and to the preparations being made for the opening of the Armory Emergency Hospital in Wilkes-Barré. He stated that he had divided the 5th District into five sub-districts, with Dr. S. B. Arment in charge of the work in Columbia County, Dr. J. W. Leckie in charge of the Hazleton sub-district, Dr. W. B. Stricker in charge of a district extending from Nanticoke south to the Columbia County line, Dr. S. L. Underwood in charge of a district extending from the borough of Wyoming to the Lackawanna County line, while he, himself, in addition to a general supervision of affairs in the 5th District, had assumed charge of the work in the territory extending from Wyoming to Nanticoke. He suggested that committees on automobiles, food, drugs and general hospital supplies should be appointed.
General Dougherty gave an account of the serious conditions existing at Minersville and Shamokin in the 3d District, adjoining the 5th District. Dr. Underwood and Miss Tinsley spoke of conditions in Exeter, Luzerne County, where nearly 300 cases then existed. They reported that there were 182 cases in 62 homes; that 98 patients were convalescing; that 10 families were in dire need of help, and that there was a special urgency for women to help in the house-work of afflicted families.
Dr. Hughes said that there were 400 cases at Glen Lyon and Wanamie in Newport Township; that sanitary conditions were bad; that there was a lack of nurses, and that the High School building at Wanamie had just been converted into an emergency hospital.
Dr. G. A. Clark, head of the Wilkes-Barré City Health Department, stated that about 200 cases had been reported in the city, and that the municipality would bear its proper share of the expense incurred in efforts to check the disease.
Dr. Lake stated that there were 36 cases in Kingston and 40 in Edwardsville, and that there had been two or three deaths from the disease. In one home in Edwardsville there were seven cases. He declared that the closing of the schools had helped somewhat in checking the spread of the disease, and that considerable good could be accomplished if Toby’s Creek, which had never been cleaned, were placed in a sanitary condition.
Dr. Arment stated that conditions in Catawissa, Columbia County, were bad; that a hospital was needed there, but it was impossible to procure nurses. Six deaths had occurred thus far in that locality, and the disease seemed to be spreading. He suggested that the school-houses in Bloomsburg be converted into emergency hospitals, and reported that the saloons in Centralia were wide open and doing business as usual.
W. H. Conyngham, representing Wyoming Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, stated that his organization had no funds with which to pay nurses, but that the members of the Chapter stood ready to do anything in their power to combat the disease.