“In 1951 my dad, Joseph Augustus Zebarth, called a doctor because my brother, Alfred, was not feeling well. The doctor surmised that he may have polio. As we lived in the country in White Lake, Ontario, and our vehicle was a 1928 Whippet, my dad hired a taxi to take my brother to the hospital in Ottawa.
He was first admitted to the Strathcona Hospital where he was monitored. A week later, my dad drove the family (his wife and his other six kids) to Ottawa so that he could visit Alfred. We made a day of it by visiting Strathcona Park and there was a bridge across the river. After that, my dad drove us around the traffic circle at the Experimental Farm. He must have driven around it at least six times — novel experience for someone from the country.
Alfred was finally moved to the Civic Hospital and he shared a room with eight or 10 other boys about his age. Every weekend, dad would bring him comics and fresh fruit (which was shared with the other boys in the room as well), and the nurses were fantastic. The boys were almost as old as the nurses who looked after them. Dad would give them $5 so that during the week they could go to a fruit and vegetable store on the corner of Holland Ave. and Carling Ave. and buy fresh fruit for the boys. Because I was five years old, I could ride for free from Arnprior to Ottawa on the train and then take the Streetcar to the Hospital. Once I got to be six, my dad stopped taking me, as he would have had to pay a fare for the train.
All in all, I believe Alfred was in the hospital for about six weeks before he was released. He was one of the lucky ones in that he ended up with just a weak leg.”
— Joseph Zebarth, community member
