The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 14

12: i THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 27. 1942 crcc Life Giving Iron -Lungs Bequeal to Hosmtals TO SAVE MANY FRDIKLDEATH Wealthy Philadelphia Woman Leaves Respirator Fund for Paralysis Victims hed 1 WILL SiDi; Alps: A a sSj 1 i I 4y AS :5: rf ZmK I my mmmr-lmmmrammM I i mmmmmmmm- Mmmmi: mMm.iimmme:Mi- -SMmmmi mmmymwmm mmmmmwm wmgmmmlmmi. Smmmmmtm i Kliaii-iiaiMrt J-, Mr-mWf PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 26 (Universal Service.) Fever-worn and restless, a small girl suffering from infantile paralysis tosses in her sickbed.

Suddenly her breathing becomes spasmodic, painful. Her lungs refuse to function. She gasps agonizedly for breath. A few years ago she would have been doomed to early and certain death. Today, her doctor makes a hasty phone canvass of nearby hospitals to find an "iron lung" that is not occupied by another patient.

Soon the child is breathing reg ularly and painlessly In the life saving device, with a good chance whsCH AiScS i st Ir s-wnsns uxnmzxA. 1 for complete recovery. LACK OF LUNGS. fmZ JC V-i. i But not all hospitals have Iron lungs.

For that reason, the re cent "mercy will" of a Philadel must 8 lil -M- i iS HOW-: VV-i jV urrfy FIGHT LOST Maybelle Outcault, 12, shown in an iron lung in a Denver hospital, actually was doomed to death before -this picture was taken. One iron lung had to be alternated between two patients, and Maybelle succumbed. Efforts now under way. assure more lungs to save more lives of patients. phia woman, bequeathing money for thirty of the "iron lungs' to Tntpmrttlonnl Vpit.

Thoto. daughter of Gertrude Ep stein, 22, of Chicago. twenty hospitals actually amounted to a gift of life to many a poliomyelitis sufferer. The testatrix, Mrs. Blanche B.

Gilbert, went even further. She instructed that if sufficient funds were left in her estate when liquidated, eighteen more iron lungs Suffering from poliomyelitis, 4 with acute respiratory paralysis, Mrs. Epstein was a patient in MLUHAINIUAL MAUIC Ihe JJnnker type of "iron1 emergency it can be operated by hand a great advantage in event an air raid might cut off electrical current. Mount Sinai Hospital. She cou'ld lung" is shown in above photo diagram.

Note that in an not be removed from the respira should be given to hospitals in and around this city. The thirty directly provided for doubles the wTrttnrnntinnnl Xpwb Photo. tor for a moment, and her little daughter thus became the first baby to be born in an iron lung.j I'm number of iron lungs in this re 1.1 gion. MANY LOSE CHANCES. The mother lived only another twenty-four hours, but the baby, showing no ill effects from her my m'-m V.

Dramatic escapes from death as a result of the speedy use of strange entrance into the the iron lung have focussed public attention on the machine in the i 'i -i; last several years. The fortitude of Frederick B. Snite, 32, the survived. In 1940, Mrs. Grace Volkman was taken out of an iron lung in a Minneapolis hospital and placed on an operating table while a facial mask kept her lungs supplied with oxygen.

A Caesarean section delivered her of a girl self-tyled "Boiler Kid" of Chicago; of Birdsall Sweet, 24, of Pough- r. keepsie, N. of Gloria Barton, 14, of Staten Island, N. and of many others who owe their lives wmmmmsfiM Miiipppi "4 1 m' a y- weighing five and a half pounds. Both mother and baby survived.

OLDEST "IRON LUNGER." to the iron lung, inspired philanthropic persons and organizations to equip hospitals in various parts The oldest "iron lunger" In of the country. number of years spent in the de Yet, according to figures re cently made public by the Na tional Foundation for Infantile vice is Birdsall Sweet, who has been occupying the respirator in Vassar Hospital, Poughkeepsie, N. since September 21, 1931. He has grown from a boy of 13 to Paralysis, there are today (exclu sive of the Gilbert bequest) only a man of 24, and is now well enough to spend his days in a 977 iron lungs in the 7,000 hospitals throughout the nation. Also, about half of these are normally occupied by patients who must remain in them in order to sur 5 -mmm --M-l I t.

-mmmmimm --mmmn w-Mi mMmmmimmmBM i i vmmmmmmm wheel chair, going back to the "boiler" only at night. Birdsall, a great baseball fan, has recently HISTORIC First baby ever born of a mother in an iron lung to survive is Gertrude Epstein, shown in arms of nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Chicago. I Tnlcrnational yV "Photo. taken to composing music.

vive. This means, of course, that, in too many cases, other patients Gloria Barton, 14, of West New I in need of iron-lung aid must lose their chance. Brighton, Staten Island, is a bright eyed, cheerful example of the life saving virtues of the iron lung. In 1937, Gloria fell prey to infantile paralysis. Both legs, A pathetic and widely publicized case in point was that of On August 10, 1939, Snite, still in the lung, married Theresa Larkin, former college mate of his sister, Mary Loretta.

He had known his bride for seven years. Maybellef Outcault, 12 year old cost of $50,000, moved his son in a respiratbr from Shanghai onto a liner across the Pacific, Ocean to San Francisco, thence to Chicago. Young Snite's unbroken cheerfulness gained him the plaudits poliomyeltis sufferer. both arms, and her breathingH were paralyzed. Besides this she had a curvature of the spine.

The ceremony was performed by tne Kev. J. w. Morrison in the Four months in a lung in Rich When the paralysis attacked her respiratory system, she was rushed to the only hospital in Denver equipped with an iron lung. But the other "lung" was already in use, maintaining life of the world.

A mirror affixed elder Snite's home in Ri vpr above his head gives him a view mond, Staten Island, strengthened her respiratory muscles so that she could breathe unaided. A i -il I -5. 1 i mmmmm 1 of something more than the ceil in tne paralysis stricken body of year in another hospital, during ing. With its help he can play cards, read and write and take Forest, 111. The bridal couple spent their honeymoon touring in the bridegroom's tariler.

On September 22, 1940, a girl baby was born to Mrs. Snite. Grandpa Snite reports that the a two year old baby, Shirley part in other activities. Krause. MERCY DASH FUTILE.

A special air conditioned trailer which her spine was operated on, followed, then a long period in a plaster cast. As for pluck, the laurel must also be awarded to "Boiler Kid" takes him and his respirator daughter, Theresa Maria (Pinkie), Physicians attempted to meet the crisis by removing Shirley COURAGEOUS Fred Snite Jr. amiles happily from i face is seen in the mirror. His case is an outstanding his iron lung at his wife and their daughter. Snite's example of the life saving qualities of the lung.

-International Jvev Photo. now two, helps make Daddy's toast and often feeds him. about the, country. He has visited Miami, where, last year he gave Steve; a young father from the mechanical respirator Fred's general health remains Snite of Chicago. In 1936, while he was on a tour of the world, young Snite became a "polio" victim.

Fortunately for him, there stricken with poliomvelitis. a good except for hay fever which I lor brief periods in order that Maybelle might have her chance ight, port-able "chest breather" afflicted him this season. During the summer he was which makes it possible for the wearer to spend some time each was an iron lung in the Rockefeller Hospital at Peiping and day outside the "boiler." at life, too. Meanwhile, the Chicago Herald-American, a Hearst newspaper, rushed an additional respirator from Chicago to Denver. All in vain.

The younger suf almost a daily visitor to Chicago race tracks, his trailer being parked in the infield at the finish there he remained for fifteen months. Snite himself spends two hours In June, 1937, his father, at a each day in the portable breather. line. ferer could not be removed from the hospital's one iron lung long enough to give the new patient a chance. And, a few minutes be tore the emergency respirator reached the hospital, Maybelle gasped out her last painful breath.

Denver hospitals now have four mechanical respirators, and it is unlikely that the city will ever witness a similar tragedy. But in other cities and localities, dangerous shortages of iron lungs still exists, hence, the importance of such gifts as the Gilbert bequest. Tv hr' -fm i m' i 4 V- ymmm-y, mmmwm mg However, even at its worst, the situation is infinitely better than previous to 1928, the year the first Drinker respirator was successfully used on a human patient. Up to that time, sufferers from lung paralysis had only the shadow of a chance to survive. SAVE UNBORN BABIES.

Since then, the number of recoveries has steadily mounted each year, keeping pace with the increasing number of lungs that have been installed in hospitals, either through purchase or by donation. COMPACT oteve Happney of pictured Fred Snite Jr. The lieht aooaratu, nar iK In several cases, the respirator SAVED Gloria Barton, who lives only by grace of the iron lung. Stricken with infantile paralysis in 1937, both legs and in the portable chest respirator presented to him oy the i necessity of remaining in the big "boiler." arms were paralyzed. Now 14, she can walk and is making steady progress toward complete recovery.

"-loumatioaalXewt Thou. has even saved unborn babies. One infant so saved was the baby -International News phots..