1954
Mrs. A.P. Burns
In 1950, at the height of the polio epidemic, Mrs. Ada Williams and Mrs. Beth Clarke put an ad in the paper that read “anyone interested in helping the handicap, please phone…”. Those words started an organization that, In 1952, was formed under the name Alberta Society for the Physically Handicapped, which was then renamed to Medicine Hat Rehabilitation Society. In 1954 Mrs. A.P. Burns was elected president of the Medicine Hat Rehabilitation Society. The organization’s first priority was to establish a workshop, and Mrs. A.P. Burns, along with the other executives and general membership, worked tirelessly to achieve that goal.
Ratio Established
In September of 1954 a membership ratio of at least 50% disabled persons was established to maintain that the organization was of the handicapped and for the handicapped.
