Mary Percy Jackson

She graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1927 with degrees in surgery and medicine.[1] She took the Queen's Prize for achieving the highest marks in her class. Over the next two years she served as a house physician at Birmingham General Hospital, casualty house physician in the children's hospital, and house surgeon in the maternity hospital.

She wanted to work in obstetrics in Calcutta, India, a post that only came up every third year. As she graduated in "the wrong year", she had to find other work to fill in the time until she would be able to apply for the Calcutta job. A colleague drew her attention to a job advertisement in the British Medical Journal, seeking a female doctor to serve in Alberta, Canada.

23 February 1929.
Strong energetic Medical Women with post-graduate experience in Midwifery, wanted for country work in Western Canada, under the Provincial Government Department of Health. Apply in first instance to Dr. E.M. Johnstone, c/o Fellowship of the Maple Leaf, 13, Victoria Street, London, SW1.

In reply to her request for further information from Dr. Emma Johnstone, OBE,[2] the reply added that "The ability to ride a saddle horse would be a great advantage". Jackson had previously taken up horse riding at Sutton Coldfield Riding School in a desire for more exercise, although her family said she rarely, if ever, left the indoor arena. When she learned that Alberta had the Rocky Mountains, she was keen to go, not realising how far north she was to be stationed, or the distance to the Rockies. She originally intended her stay in Alberta to be a one-year adventure.[1]

The Fellowship of the Maple Leaf organisation were to pay her passage. She travelled to stay with and meet the organisation's founder Canon P. J. Andrews and his wife, also meeting their friend Dr. Johnstone, with whom Mary had had her earlier correspondence. Johnstone gave her the advice "Whatever you do, go to the Dental Hospital a get yourself a week's practice pulling teeth!".

She travelled to Southampton and boarded the RMS Empress of Scotland for a week-long voyage to Québec City, passing around Cape Race on 13 July 1929. A further week-long railway journey took her westwards past Ottawa and Lake Superior across the expanse of Canada from dense forest to open prairie. Her companions for the sea voyage—also funded by the Fellowship of the Maple Leaf—were Dr. Helen O'Brien, who would serve in Lac La Biche, and Dr. Elizabeth Rodger, who was heading to work at Lesser Slave Lake northwest of Edmonton.

Arriving at the end of a three-month drought in Central Alberta, on 21 July 1929 she was introduced to her job by the Minister of Health, the Honourable George Hoadley, at a meeting in Edmonton. Following this meeting she spent a week with the Travelling Clinic, reaching some 50 miles (80 km) north further north to Clyde. Her journey concluded by train 300 miles (480 km) from Edmonton, north to Peace River Town and along the Peace River aboard D.A Thomas accompanied by Kate Brighty, the Superintendent of Public Health Nursing.

One of her early patients was Frank Jackson, a trapper who had contracted blood poisoning in his hand. He had treated himself for a time but sought out the new doctor when the infection started to spread. She opened up the infection, bandaged the wound and left him to sleep. They soon found they had much in common, including finding that they shared love of classical music as they listened to Puccini playing on the Gramophone in temperatures of −40°. Frank, a widower, started to find excuses to travel and see her.

They started courting and were married 10 March 1931 in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police barracks at Battle River. She moved to her husband's homestead at Keg River, 100 km further north than her original assignment in Battle River. With her marriage and the move, she lost her wages, as the government decided that there wasn't a need for a doctor in Keg River, and in those days, husbands were supposed to provide for their wives. But even without the government salary, she continued practicing medicine.

The Indians and Métis in the small community were remarkably fit, but were being decimated by Tuberculosis (TB). She managed to almost eradicate the spread of TB in the area with preventative techniques and education. This was before there were any drugs to treat TB, so one of the solutions involved stopping people with TB from spitting on the floor. Prior to her arrival the people had had little idea about germs and how they could spread disease. Other prevalent diseases were rickets, which she treated very successfully with doses of cod liver oil, and goiter due to iodine deficiency.[3]

Jackson completed her own laboratory work and X-rays, with equipment set up in various parts of the house. There was no way to get results back in time if she sent the samples out. She had several timers set up around the house, one for bread baking, one for the X-ray, and one for the laboratory tests. She eventually built a small outpost hospital.

The first time she used an antibiotic was after a colleague in Edmonton sent her a small vial containing crystals of penicillin for a Christmas gift. She wondered if this new drug was as good as everyone said it was, and whether it was safe. She decided she would give some of it to the next person who was so sick that she was sure that person would die, having no more she could do for that person. This proved to be a little native girl with pneumonia, whom Jackson believed would not live through the night. She mixed the penicillin and gave a small amount to the girl her every three hours until she was better. The child markedly improved with every hour after beginning the injections of penicillin, and went home completely well. Jackson, many years later, expressed her view with certainty that the child would have died that night without penicillin.[4]

Believing that disease prevention by a mentally and physically healthy community was the best medicine, she and her husband were instrumental in establishing the school, the hospital, the community centre, and a library, all while raising their family.[4] She had two children of her own, and Frank had three from his previous marriage.[3]

In 1935 work started to create the road that is now the Mackenzie Highway. It was during the Great Depression and the government had created a work program to provide employment for the unemployed and helped to build new infrastructure. Conditions for the laboring men were grim, and their canned food supplies often frozen solid. She treated many cases of frostbite, more than she had seen in the previous six years.

The creation of the road altered life in the north significantly. Transporting patients to hospital was now possible and it became easier to get medical supplies. However, it wasn't until after World War II that the road became passable in summer, after the frost had melted and the ground was no longer swampy. The road created work for Mary, particularly in the early days when the road was dirt. In summer, drivers would follow the dust cloud of the vehicle in front (which could last a couple of miles) as a way to find the road, but sometimes they would end up crashing into the vehicle in front.

She retired from active practice in 1975.[1] She and Frank then enjoyed various holidays, away from the harsh North of Canada. Frank Jackson died on 1 September 1979. Following her husband's death, she started doing more lectures and talks. She also visited her family in Britain several times, often taking some of her grandchildren with her. She told many stories, both from her own life and the extensive reading she undertook. She had a very down to earth attitude and spoke plainly. She said that she had no fear of being dead, commenting::"It's not being dead that one is afraid of, but a process of dying after a stroke or a heart attack. When you've almost got one foot in heaven, it's a bit annoying to be brought back so you can do the whole thing again slowly. Doctors say they don't want to play God, but if a person has died suddenly and then is brought back to life, that is playing God."