North Dakota State Fair Iron Lung Surprise
July 26, 2010 3 Comments
Today we traveled to Minot for the North Dakota State Fair. As with most state fairs, we find livestock, baked goods, and agricultural displays. There are fine musical acts. And, best of all, you don’t have to sell your soul for a good parking spot…
But unlike most state fairs, this one has the county museum on the premises. And that’s what I really want to talk about. This museum has something I’ve NEVER seen in any museum before: An iron lung!
This vintage iron lung was purchased by the town in 1939…and sorry to say I don’t remember any of the details. I was just so intrigued with the …. I mean, what do you really know about iron lungs?
I realized that everything I knew about them came from brief appearances in old TV shows, usually when the plot required absolute proof that the current suspect couldn’t possibly have committed a crime because <surprise!> he is in an iron lung!
Plus, I’ve long remembered someone once told me that if the power went out, the people in iron lungs suffer the most.
But I couldn’t say what ever caused someone to need an iron lung, and why you don’t hear about them anymore much. I’ll save you the trip to wikipedia:
Originally for treatment of coal gas poisoning.
Most famous use in the mid-1900s for victims polio.
Entire hospital wards were filled with rows of iron lungs at the height of the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s.
Since the development of modern ventilators that control breathing via the direct intubation of the airway, the use of the iron lung has sharply declined.
There are approximately 30 patients in the USA still using an iron lung.
Guinness book of records lists as the person who spent the longest time in an iron lung died aged 83 in Melbourne, Australia.
You only have to visit a few prairie museums before you start seeing the same things over and over: The old school house. The turn-of-the-century kitchen. The primitive tools. It’s a great museum trip when I can’t wait to get home and learn more about something. Right on Ward County Historic Society!
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I’ve always wondered a lot of things about iron lungs. Did people have to stay in them ALL the time? How about, umm, bodily functions? Did their muscles atrophy from non-use? Could they do anything with their hands? I guess you’ve got me curious to learn more, too.
I’ve never been to the Ward County museum, but I love the museum in Valley City, ND! You can play the player piano (all day if you want) and put real money in the real juke box and hear real tunes. There’s also an old-fashioned message system from a department store — something like a can on a rope for sending hand-written orders around. But, if I want to see an iron lung, I guess I’ll have to make the trip to MInot…!
I’ve never been to Valley City, but I’ve seen vintage video from there on YouTube. I’d love to see the message system.