The Story of the Health Warriors Who Made Denver Health What It Is Today

This is the latest in a series of articles reflecting on and celebrating the rich history of 160 years of Denver Health.

Back in the early 1960's, Dr. Samuel Johnson was keenly aware of patients as he walked through the lobby of what was then known as Denver General Hospital (Denver Health today). For many, the journey began with a pre-dawn bus ride, two or three transfers, a long wait to see a doctor, and finally, an expensive taxi ride home.

This is our second of two blogs comparing the 1918 pandemic flu to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). In this blog, we focus on a second wave of cases which led to a record-setting new spike in deaths, claiming more lives in Denver than all Coloradans killed in World War I. It is an important lesson to keep in mind as we as a society consider how and when to go "back to normal" after the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's been more than 100 years since the world has seen a pandemic on the scale of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). 102 years ago, the world was stricken by the influenza pandemic which commonly became known as 'Spanish Influenza' or 'Spanish Flu' and Denver, just like many other cities around the world, took drastic measures very similar to what we are doing through today to fight COVID-19.