Ignace in Kenora District, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)

Mary Berglund

"Nurse of the North"

— 1902-1995 —

Mary Berglund Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2022

1. Mary Berglund Marker

Inscription.
The Mary Berglund Community Health Centre is named for the registered nurse who maintained health services in Ignace for over thirty years from the 1940's to 1970's. Mary found herself acting as a general practitioner — not by choice, but by demand. Working out of her home, she sutured wounds, pumped stomachs, gave injections, administered drugs, presided over childbirth and maintained death vigils. People treated her like the old country doctor, making merchandise payments when money was scarce. Mary Berglund was honoured on numerous occasions by the community, Province and Nation, and was the only nurse to be given membership in the Ontario Medical Association! This mural is a compilation of pictures and stories of Mary, painted by student Cheryl Gannon in 1997. It was originally located at the Mary Berglund Clinic on Beaver Street.

[legible excerpts from the Mary Berglund Mural]
• The portrait of health care in the north is framed by many obstacles, but it is upon this canvas of adversity that some of the greatest works of human tenacity, compassion and courage have left their mark. One of the great artists on this northern

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landscape of health care was Mary Berglund. Through her spunk, unyielding conviction and unshakable personal vision, she pioneered the role of nurse practitioner. In 1939, the doctor left Ignace… and for 30 years she continued to practice as the only health care worker within a radius of 110 km…
• The real heart of the Berglund “clinic” was, however, the family bathroom… This was where kids came to get their shots; this is where people came to get treated…
• “People paid what they could. Oh, I’d get cabbages, carrots, cash from time to time.”
• Perhaps her brother, Oscar Sideen of Stanley, summed it up best. “If something needed doing, Mary just went ahead and did it… all her life.”
• A housewife recalls, “I just don’t know what the town would have done without her.”
• “was still painting her own fence when she was past 90. She was truly a remarkable woman.” Dolores Kivi
• Berglund is receiving an honourary Ontario Medical Association membership… the only nurse to be awarded that honour.
• received the St. John Ambulance pin…
• In 1986 the RNAO presented her with their highest honour, the Award of Merit.
• She also received recognition

Mary Berglund Mural image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2022

2. Mary Berglund Mural

This mural is a compilation of pictures and stories of Mary, painted by student Cheryl Gannon in 1997.

as Woman of the Year in 1975.
• She became a legend in her own time. One older patient, when asked how he got a certain scar, replied rather proudly, “Chainsaw! I just ran down to Mrs. “B’s” place — she grabbed me and plunked me down on her toilet seat and sewed me up!” — Driftwood June 6, 1990.
• June 2, 1982 proclaimed Mary Berglund Day by Township of Ignace — Driftwood, June 2, 1982
• Jan 15, 1958 Fort William Daily Times Journal — She attends the sick and injured in a huge rural tract of hundreds of square miles in Northwestern Ontario that has been without a resident doctor for nearly 17 years. A maid of mercy in a land of lakes and bush, a modern Florence Nightingale of the forest trails. Where she goes is legendary. This list would include Indian shanty and white man’s home, bush-land cabins and swampside shacks, to fire, explosion, collision and crash. At highway accidents and rail mishaps, places of birth and scenes of death, Mrs. Berglund is found.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Charity & Public Work • Science & Medicine • Women. A significant historical year for this entry is 1902.

Location. 49° 24.974′ N,

Mary Berglund Mural & Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2022

3. Mary Berglund Mural & Marker

Looking south from the Ignace Public Library parking lot. The marker is on the right side of the mural.

91° 40.006′ W. Marker is in Ignace, Ontario, in Kenora District. It can be reached from Main Street (Trans-Canada Highway) (Provincial Highway 17) just west of West Street, on the left when traveling west. The marker is located on the south side of the Ignace Public Library parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 36 Main Street, Ignace ON P0T 1T0, Canada. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Northern Ontario

and specifically in Northwest Ontario.

It is also in Central Canada.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Great North Woods,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony,

the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and Rupert’s Land.

Other nearby markers. At least 4 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Towerman (within shouting distance of this marker); Maple Mountain Tower (within shouting distance of this marker); History of the Fire Tower (within shouting distance of this marker); Beech 18 (approx. half a

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kilometer away).

Also see . . .
1. History of Mary Berglund. Excerpt:

Mary Berglund pioneered the role of Nurse Practitioner, working in Ignace during the 1940s, 50s and 60s as the only health care worker within a radius of 110 kilometres. A graduate of the McKellar Hospital School of Nursing in Thunder Bay, Mary`s home served as the first health centre in Ignace. Her skills and professional commitment were soon recognized by doctors in the area who supported her work, providing her with access to medications and medical supplies. She is the only Nurse who has been received honourary membership from the Ontario Medical Association (1972). She received many other awards, including in 1986, an honourary life membership from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.

(Submitted on March 20, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

2. Mary Sideen Berglund (Find A Grave). Excerpt:

(Stanley Hill Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada)
Elinor Barr (Mary's daughter and published historian) writes: Mary Sideen was born to Swedish Immigrant Neil and Anna Sideen on 2 June 1902 in Stanley, Ontario, on a homestead in the log house her father had built in one month in honour of her arrival. She entered McKellar General Hospital School of Nursing at the age of 18, in 1920, and graduated in 1923 as a Registered Nurse. She was unhappy during her first years in Ignace, feeling that she was not welcomed according to her status as a professional. After the CPR instituted an insurance scheme called AMS in 1941, the company doctor moved away and she became the only medical help in the community and surrounding area. After this time she committed her life to the medical care of residents and visitors, and pioneered the role of nurse practitioner.

(Submitted on March 20, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on March 20, 2024. It was originally submitted on March 19, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 278 times since then and 24 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on March 20, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.