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Alan Mays

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Posted: 25 Mar 2014

Taken: 25 Mar 2014

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1946 •
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1940s •
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Demonstration of Respirator (Iron Lung), Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Ill.

Demonstration of Respirator (Iron Lung), Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Ill.
A medical photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

A real photo postcard published by the Grogan Photo Co., Danville, Ill. Postmarked Chicago, Ill., July 13, 1946.

"Iron lungs," a colloquial term for negative pressure ventilators (these medical devices are no longer called "respirators"), were notably used in the 1940s and 1950s to treat polio patients with paralyzed lungs. Fortunately, with the development of vaccines to prevent polio and the development of new types of ventilators and treatments, iron lungs are now used only infrequently.

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Comments
 John FitzGerald
John FitzGerald club
Besides the ordeal of being in these things, children and adults often had to be moved out of their home towns and separated from their families. I interviewed polio survivors for a research project once and that seemed to have often been what bothered them the most.
11 years ago.
Alan Mays club has replied to John FitzGerald club
I hadn't considered that! One of the images in Wikipedia's iron lungs article shows a ward with 25 or more iron lungs, so it does appear that patients had to stay in special facilities. I doubt that any of the machines were intended for home use in the 1950s or 1960s.
11 years ago.

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