60 YEARS AGO.Lives Are Saved in 'Wooden Lung' USE OF A NEW "wooden lung" in place of the conventional "Iron Lung iron lung, device used to maintain artificial respiration over an extended period of time. Before the successful vaccination program against poliomyelitis, it was used mostly in treatment of that disease. " in the treatment of polio, or infantile paralysis infantile paralysis: see poliomyelitis. , proved highly successful in saving lives when that dreaded malady malady /mal·a·dy/ (-ah-de) disease. mal·a·dy n. A disease, disorder, or ailment. malady a disease or illness. broke out in northern Michigan This article is about the region; for the university, see Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan - or more properly Northern Lower Michigan - is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan, popular as a tourist destination. early last September. While the first wooden lung was designed as an emergency respirator respirator /res·pi·ra·tor/ (res´pi-ra?ter) ventilator (2). cuirass respirator see under ventilator. , into which the victims of the disease could be placed pending the arrival of an "Iron Lung" the wooden unit was found to serve the same purpose as the more cumbersome metal respirator. It is credited with saving several lives at St. Luke's Hospital in Marquette when the epidemic broke out. M.K. Reynolds of the Lake Superior Yacht Yards conceived the idea of making a homemade respirator of wood, which he hoped would serve until the regular metal unit could be brought to the city. Acting immediately on the idea, the yacht crew went into action and in less than four hours completed the first emergency unit, constructed of fir plywood and operated by a large vacuum cleaner mechanism. The total cost was less than $40. |
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