My mom, Martha (Shimanek) Mages worked as an R.N. at the Spearville District Hospital ever since she moved to Spearville after marrying my dad. I even worked there over the summer of 82 as a CNA. I can still remember when a person entered the main doors on the East side of the building there was a lobby with typical doctor office chairs. The long North/South hallway was flanked on the East side by patient rooms and two parallel East/West hallways were perpendicular to this hallway. In the center of this “U-Shaped” layout was the nurses station. Against its East wall was a desk and opposite on its West wall were patient charts with cabinets. Mostly, the nurses took care of the patients in 8 hour shifts but occasionally they would also have to man the ER “room” which was just a room cattycorner to the nurses’ station. The nurses would triage patients and call the doctor who either came in or gave orders. My mom would tell of all manner of emergencies that came through those doors from typical doctor office visits to delivery of babies to possible surgeries when we had active surgeons in Spearville. Dad talked about how, I think, it was Dr. Speir who did his hernia surgery at the old Perkins Hospital. Mom talked about Dr. Hort and Dr. Speir who were here for quite some time. After the loss of these long-serving doctors, the town had serious problems recruiting doctors.  

Read more about Spearville and rural medicine at https://spearvillehistory.ccrsdigitalprojects.com/stories/dr-samuel-j-crumbine