My life goal of being a nurse practitioner affected my choice of destination in history. If I could go back in time, I would go back to Hickory, North Carolina in June of 1944, which is only thirty minutes away from my home in Taylorsville, North Carolina. This small town became the center of the largest polio outbreak in the United States. “Polio” is short for “poliomyelitis”, a disease that targets the leg, arm, stomach and muscles of the back. If polio paralyzes the chest muscles of the victim, it can be fatal by not allowing the person to breathe. At this time there was no reliable cure for polio, but most people did recover with at least a partial return of their mobility. Beginning in 1916, large outbreaks of polio swept through cities and towns, crippling and killing thousands. Most years saw “summer outbreaks” that would seem to stop with the cold weather. When polio hit this small, western North Carolina town …show more content…
These heroic men and women faced danger, with polio being infectious viral disease that could lead to permanent paralysis. Despite this risk to their own health, the medical staff treated those who were in need of care. Although polio can strike at any age, it mainly affects children under the age of five. There is a home in Hickory that has been turned into a museum. One area of this museum is dedicated to the “Miracle of Hickory” and is a humbling experience. What I remember most about these exhibits are the infant cribs and an infant iron lung. An iron lung was an instrument that allowed a polio patient to artificially breath, saving many lives. I was not prepared to see this machine that kept small infants alive. As I thought about the people who were saved that summer, many who could have been my great-aunt’s age, I was filled with a renewed energy and commitment to pursue a career in the medical
Table of Contents Title Page Abstract Review of Literature Introduction Henrietta Lacks The Knot Doctor Jones and TeLinde Doctor Grey and Treatment Birth of HeLa Cells Henrietta’s Death A Cure for Polio Other Contributions Immoral Practices
One of the biggest contribution was the polio vaccine.
Anna Dhody has a Masters in Forensic Science, Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology, and Forensic Anthropology, Intensive Short Course. “When a person contracts the poliomyelitis virus, the resulting infection can cause motor paralysis and disrupt the normally involuntary act of breathing. Machines such as Emerson’s create a microenvironment that mimics the pressurization (and de-pressurization) that normally occurs in a healthy body” (Dhody). The virus affected many people and the machine was a very helpful tool to help with breathing. The
Polio is an infectious viral disease that affects the central nervous system. The year 1950, a year before Henrietta Lacks died, was the peak of the polio
Thomas Kidner was a popular occupational therapy advocate, in Canada, in the early nineteenth century. I chose him as I was interested in that he, as an architect, designed the workshops where his rehabilitation center resided. He worked with disabled soldiers from World War I and sufferers of tuberculosis. The patients there would work on projects before going back to normal work. If I could go back in time, I would like to ask him how he became interested in TB and rehabilitation aspect of WWI.
Polio: An American Story written by David Oshinsky highlights the journey to the discovery of a vaccine which would finally put an end to the once mysterious disease, Poliomyelitis. The journey begins in Otter Valley, Vermont, as it was the first Polio epidemic to be documented in the United States. Unknowingly, it would take years after the first epidemic in 1894 to find a solution for this frightening illness. The disease dates back to ancient time, with cases describing the victims to be left with disfigured limbs and some eventually to be paralyzed. Oshinsky identifies that the disease appeared in three phases: endemic, which occurs in a sporadically within a group of people, epidemic, in which it affected many people and spread rapidly,
Polio was always an issue in the early 20th century in the United States, with cases numbering the ten
These belief systems are a great concern to parents who follow the compulsory vaccination schedule. Dr Karen Plant said, “The low rates mean a loss of ‘herd immunity’ which exposes those too young or ill, such as babies to be vaccinated, to disease and infection, which Mullumbimby has already been exposed to in the past” of the risks of low vaccination in communities. Mullumbimby mothers Toni Mcaffree both lost a child, to the Whooping Cough after an outbreak in the between 2009- 2013. Mother and Health Care worker Kalee Suthers, “They were to young to be vaccinated, so they relied on the rest of the community to be vaccinated to offer protection, but numbers wernt high enough” said when speaking of the deaths of the two babies.
Things weren’t looking so great for Roosevelt at this point because now his ability to walk on his own was taken from him. However, even though he was now dealing with a serious medical condition which limited his ability to walk, he would not let it define him. “Roosevelt did not hide his diagnosis, forming a polio rehabilitation center Georgia before running for president.” ("Franklin Delano Roosevelt Probably Didn't Have Polio after All."
Debate outline I. Introduction A. Did you know that president Roosevelt was not only a president but also created that national foundation for infantile paralysis when polio was on the rise as he too struggled with polio. This is now known as the March of Dimes. B. A fighting chance for every baby.
Jonas Stalk created another vaccine against poliomyelitis, a disease that causes polio. It was the second vaccine against the disease that had been made. Stalk’s vaccine helped save the lives of many people and prevented many polio outbreaks in the United States. His vaccine undoubtedly led to the creation of many more vaccines. It helps people today by prevent most of poliomyelitis.
Some Vaccines were ineffective, Bollet wrote “in civilian life, children were first vaccinated with material taken directly from a lesion on the udder of a cow or a calf infected with cowpox, which was caused by a virus similar enough to smallpox to confer immunity” though this proved effective army soldiers would vaccinate each other but because they did not sterilize and used antiseptic methods this method would often be fatal due to blood poisoning. However, the knowledge the physicians gain from this experience helps to shape how patients are vaccinated
There are numerous evidences present in the literature to support the usefulness of vaccination for the treatment of viral infections such as Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Small Pox (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2013). A person is given a shot once for these diseases and seldom need another shot. Health agencies are now able to make statement such as the eradication of Small Pox, Polio and Measles (College of Phycisian of Philadelphia, 2015). The efforts toward polio and measles eradication in the Americas have been possible only mainly because there was a very high level of political commitment and collaboration among governments of the region (Knobler, Lederberg, & Pray, 2002).
A career as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner is a natural extension of my personal, educational, and research experiences. Although my path to nursing has not been a straight line, every experience that put me on this path has shaped my passion and dedication to psychiatric nursing. After losing loved ones to suicide at a young age, I made a promise to myself and to them that I would dedicate my life to helping individuals struggling with mental illness. This promise led me to study Psychology at UC Berkeley, where I fell in love with clinical research investigating the efficacy of treatments for mental illness.
After two years of schooling, she received her certificate and began teaching at a public-school. Osborne’s lifelong dream of being a teacher was short lived, due to an act of violence that almost ended her life. Since her teaching career did not work out, her brother suggested to try the medical field. This resulted in her beginning to train at City Hospital No. 2 in St. Louis. After a few months of training, she began the head nurse.