Living in suburbia, it is easy to forget receiving basic primary care was not always easy. We complain about the wait times to get an appointment, or how long we have to wait in the doctor's office, but there was a time when you only got such care when the dentist made an appearance in your town. In the case of the sparsely populated Northern Ontario, those visits came on a railway car.
In the 1930's, the Ontario government created a program to provide school children with a dentist. From 1951-1977, that service came via the rails. Most of the dentists were from Toronto. I can only imagine their impressions of Northern Ontario after leaving the big city.
According to the Railway Museum's website, a few years after they received the car (one of three used) in 1990 they hosted reunions for the dentists, and through that they received the artifacts they have on display inside the car.
The railcar had two small bedrooms: one for the dentist, and one for his assistant. They also had a kitchen, a bathroom, a spacious examination room that looks eerily like the one I still visit, a dark room to process the x-rays, and a small waiting room with books to share. Everything has a place. They also had a separate car for supplies. The trains rain 12 months a year.
I imagine they were a lifeline.
I hope much oral tradition was gathered when they met.
Dentist's room |
Office |
Nurse's bedroom |
Waiting room |
Book swap |
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