Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D10217-10
Date(s)
- 1940-09 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
In September of 1940, a young polio patient is being removed from her iron lung. One of the most dangerous complications of polio was the loss of the ability to breathe. In the early 1920s, American physician Philip Drinker developed the first artificial respirator. It was a large airtight cylinder. The patient laid inside the cylinder with only their head remaining on the outside. Motors attached to the cylinder rhythmically changed the air pressure inside, forcing air in and out of the patients� lungs. The contraption came to be called an "Iron Lung." The cumbersome machine has now been replaced with the portable ventilator.
Poliomyelitis--Tacoma; Sick children; Pierce County Hospital (Tacoma); Iron lungs;