2 Comments Posted by femaledragon

i found some great information online today from 2005 on iron lungs and polio. the title of the web article is "Survivors to Revisit the Polio Scare." you can see the rest of the article, if interested, in their 2005 archive section: http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom
the article publication date is March 10, 2005.

here is the paragraph i would like to quote from the site, and share with you all:

"Inside the iron lung
The so-called iron lung was the first effective treatment for patients so severely paralyzed they couldn't breathe. First used in 1928 in an 8-year-old girl with polio at Children's Hospital Boston, it consisted of a tank made by a local tinsmith and a pair of vacuum cleaner blowers. As the machine breathed for her, the girl revived and later asked for ice cream. Later, as demand grew, hospitals moved to room-sized respirators. ''I had space for four patients all sticking their heads out from this room with their bodies inside,'' wrote Children's physician James Wilson, ''and we could get inside with them and care for them.'' Clinicians also gave care through portholes, initially purchased from a Boston shipyard; if a porthole was opened at the wrong moment, the patient would have his breath knocked out of him. Former patients can describe living in respirators for months on end, never leaving to be bathed or changed, eating flat on their backs, relying on nurses to feed them and mirrors to see around them. During power outages, hospital staff - even doctors - took turns pumping the respirators with a bellows."

yes, i have explored st margaret's, but it was in pretty bad condition. was asked to leave when inside this particular building. luckily, that was at the end of the trip. the security there was actually a really nice fellow. i wish i could find out more about this place.