"Scalpels and Buggywhips" tells the incredible story of the medical pioneers of Central BC. These medical giants treated everything from scurvy to bear bites. They delivered babies and performed surgeries. Their endurance and courage was surpassed only by that of their wives. Eldon Lee tells of Horace Cooper Wrinch, the missionary doctor of Hazelton; Quesnel's Dr. G.R. Paddy Baker and his popular wife Nellie; and the pioneer doctors of Prince George, Dr. Carl Ewert and Dr. Edwin James Lyon.

The impact of colonization on aboriginal health in British Columbia: overview -- My people are sick. My youngmen are angry: the impact of colonization on aboriginal diet and nutrition -- Running out of spaces: sanitation and environment in aboriginal habitations -- A scandalous procession: residential schooling and the reformation of aboriginal bodies -- Aboriginal conceptions of the body, disease and medicine -- Acts of humanity: Indian health services -- Doctors, hospitals, and field matrons: on the ground with Indian health services -- Medical pluralism in aboriginal communities -- Conclusion.

This volume is an anthology of columns written for Caring ... Building a Healthier Community, which appeared in the Prince George Citizen newspaper. The articles cover the period spring 1996 until summer 1997

In the wake of SARS and H1N1, this story of medical health officer Dr. Fred Underhill and his battle against the 1918 Spanish influenza that killed 25 to 50 million people worldwide is particularly relevant. Underhill is symbolic of the senior public health officers in cities across Canada and the U.S. who mounted the best defence they could against the killer flu. His vision, his tireless efforts, and his dialogue with colleagues in Seattle and elsewhere saved many lives. And his patient advice and findings are still relevant today as we await the new viral epidemics that undoubtedly lie ahead. In their enlightening account of the events of that era, authors O'Keefe and Macdonald have crafted a compelling story of people coming together in a time of crisis.

In 1900, Horace Wrinch travelled to Kispiox in the Upper Skeena district in northern British Columbia and in a couple of years moved to Hazelton, where he built a hospital, founded a nursing school and started a hospital farm. It was the first hospital in the interior of British Columbia from Atlin in the far north to the Cariboo. Always interested in public health, he helped found the British Columbia Hospital Association in late 1917 (or early 1918) and served as its president for two terms. Drawn into politics in 1924, he served as an M.L.A. for two terms. In the Legislature in Victoria he became a well-known advocate for state health insurance.