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My Turn: A misunderstood disease
PenikeseIslandHospital PenikeseIslandHospital
Published: 4/1/2021 1:28:41 PM
Thanks to Carole Gariepy for remembering the painful history of people diagnosed with Hansen’s Disease (aka leprosy) in Massachusetts a century ago.
Massachusetts operated the Penikese Island Hospital from 1905-1921 and cared for about 40 patients total. Most were immigrants, originating from Cape Verde, Italy, China, the British West Indies, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Japan, the Philippines, India and Russia. Some of their names were Flavia, Wong, Hyman, Porfius, Nassem, Isabelle, Nicholas, Yee, Demetrius, Goon Lee, Hassan, Manueil, Fong, Getulio, and Iwa. Their stories are intimately humanized in Eve Rifkah’s graceful book of poems, “Outcasts” (2010, Little Pear Press).
People are drawn to end places. Key West and Provincetown, for example, attract tourists not only due to their natural beauty but in the case of Key West, because itâs as far south as you can go in the continental United States. Provincetown, of course, is at the end of Cape Cod.
Penikese Island is another such end place. The last in a local chain known as the Elizabeth Islands, the tiny island was once considered far enough removed from civilization to serve as a leper colony and prior to that a natural history school. From the early 1970s to 2011 it was home to the Penikese Island School, an alternative treatment facility for troubled boys that used the islandâs remoteness to its advantage.