KHS historian Maile Melrose Discusses Kona and the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic with HPR

Did you hear?…

Kona Historical Society’s Executive Director Dance Aoki and the Society’s beloved honorary historian Maile Melrose, sat down with Hawaii Public Radio’s Ku`uwehi Hiraishi to discuss Kona during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.

To listen to the entire story and read a transcript of the interview, visit HPR’s website.

“The 1918 flu pandemic was one of the deadliest in recent history – killing 50 million people worldwide, including thousands here in Hawaiʻi. Kona historian Maile Melrose shared her familyʻs history with the pandemic and reflects on some of the lessons for a world caught in the grip of COVID-19.”

A hospital in Kansas during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918.
National Museum of Health and Medicine