More than 100 years ago, a pandemic struck the Albany area and overwhelmed hospitals and the health care system. 

Amid the unprecedented time, members of the community stepped up to care for each other, despite risks to their own health.

When the influenza pandemic hit Albany in the fall of 1918, it brought with it a wave of loss.

But there were also stories of hope and perseverance, and one of those occurred on Washington Avenue in the city.

At the time, the place of worship was known as the Sprague Chapel, and it became the first makeshift hospital in Albany to help patients combat the virus.

Soldiers from the Army Training Corps were stationed nearby in Albany's downtown campus gymnasium, where it spread through most of the men.

Members of the chapel volunteered their building to help, and within a day, it was converted into an influenza hospital.

Soldiers who were healthy enough tore out all of the chapel's pews, and the American Red Cross replaced them with cots.

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Those who were unwell were carried across the street. Many remained through that November.

When the hospitals around Albany were overcrowded during the last pandemic, volunteers were there to help the sick at what is now The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

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