They say when there’s a disaster you should look for the helpers. Those stories aren’t coming out in the reporting of COVID-19 yet but it’s only a matter of time before they do. No doubt those stories will be featured on hundreds of podcasts in the near future.

The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918 swept the world at a time when many places were reeling from the horrors of World War I. The symptoms and spread of the Spanish Flu virus have a lot of parallels with what is happening right now with COVID-19, as do some of the hysterical reaction and reporting.

In 1918 Sister Annie Egan’s first assignment as a military nurse was at the quarantine station at North Head in Sydney.

The story of her service to the sick alongside her colleagues as they battled to keep the flu that claimed her life out of the rest of Australia has a lot of parallels with what we are seeing happen around the world right now. It’s also the topic of the first episode of this weeks #TuneOutTuesday podcast Forgotten Australia.

Vale Annie Egan, helper. Gone but not forgotten.

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1918 reporting of the Spanish Flu parallels a lot of COVID-19 rhetoric now

It’s #TuneOutTuesday!
Today I want to introduce you to Dr Wally Wood. Jaimie and I had the pleasure of meeting Wally and his talented wife Bev last year.

He’s had a fascinating career in medicine and teaching as a Professor of Anatomy at UQ. He has particular skills in forensic osteology and has worked to help identify the remains of fallen WWII soldiers.

Wally holds the donors to the UQ Body Donor Program in very high regard as they have assisted him in teaching many, many students over the years so he initiated the Thanksgiving Service to acknowledge their great gift to science and education.

I hope you enjoy this episode of ABC Conversations with Dr Walter Wood and Richard Fidler.

Walter Wood: dignifying body donation

Dr Walter Wood has seen first hand how body donors advance the cause of medical science. Walter has taught anatomy to medical students in Australia and Papua New Guinea since the 1960s. His knowledge was called on to identify the skeletal remains of Australian and Japanese WWII soldiers recovered from the jungles of New Guinea.