Framingham & the Flu: 1918 Pandemic

Presented by Kathy Hursen & Dr. Al DeMaria

How did Framingham manage to avoid the catastrophic death rates from the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic? Join us as two public health experts review the measures put in place by the Framingham Health and Tuberculosis Demonstration Project (1916-1923) and how these drastically reduced the incidence of death from the flu locally.  Kathy Hursen, former Framingham Public Health Nurse, and Dr. Alfred DeMaria Jr., retired Medical Director and State Epidemiologist at the Mass. Bureau of Infectious Disease, will present Framingham’s public health legacy during WWI and during a pandemic that took 50 million lives worldwide. Dr. DeMaria will speak to the large scale pandemic and Kathy will bring the discussion home to Framingham with the demonstration project, the impact of the flu, troops stationed at the Musterfield, and the eventual creation of the Framingham Heart Study. 

Tickets are $5/FHC member and $10/non-member. Purchase tickets at framinghamhistory.org or mail checks to FHC P.O. Box 2032, Framingham, MA 01703. Questions? Call 508-626-9091.