That was not necessarily a failure of effort or skill.

Tuberculosis and influenza killed enormous numbers of people in an era before antibiotics and modern antiviral treatment.

But the death revealed the limitation of heroic medicine.

One dedicated doctor could travel through snow every day.

She could not transform the entire healthcare environment alone.

The reservation needed a place where patients could be admitted, observed, kept warm, isolated when necessary, and treated more efficiently.

It needed nurses.

It needed beds.

It needed an operating room.

It needed a hospital.