Dr. Wilfred Grenfell was a graduate of the London Hospital Medical College. At one time, he had wanted to be a preacher. Grenfell became involved with the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. The mission provided services while handing out Bibles and religious tracts.
By the 1800’s, the only medical service in Labrador was a poorly equipped ship sent from St. John’s to sail the Labrador coast. In 1892, the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen sent Dr. Grenfell on a hospital ship to the Labrador coast. He was shocked by the poverty and disease among the people.
Dr. Grenfell went back to England to raise funds for a mission. He returned to Labrador in 1893 with two nurses and two doctors. Hospitals were set up in Battle Harbour and Indian Harbour. Groups in Canada, Britain, the United States and Newfoundland worked to support Grenfell’s mission.
The first hospital at St. Anthony was a single room in a settler’s house. Dr. Grenfell and the local men cut wood to make a framework for a cottage hospital. This became the headquarters for the Grenfell Mission.