Health and Medicine

MN90: Sister Kenny's Polio Solution

In the 1930s and 1940s, when polio was rampant in the United States, the predominant treatment method was to immobilize the patient's body in braces and splints. But Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian nurse who resettled in Minnesota in 1940, believed in a controversial alternative method. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel describes how Kenny revolutionized polio care. Includes an interview with Kate Roberts, author of Minnesota 150, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2007.

Poster from the State Board of Health

Poster from the State Board of Health

"Girls and Women, Sex and Health Exhibit" poster from the State Board of Health.

Minnesota State Board of Health button

Minnesota State Board of Health button

Minnesota State Board of Health button, c.1930.

Charles N. Hewitt

Charles N. Hewitt

Charles N. Hewitt, c.1900.

Charles N. Hewitt

Charles N. Hewitt

Charles N. Hewitt, tintype c.1860.

Minneapolis Board of Health member giving vaccinations

Minneapolis Board of Health member giving vaccinations

Minneapolis Board of Health member giving vaccinations, 1904. Vaccinations were often supplied to local health boards by the State Board of Health.

State Board of Health Established, March 4, 1872

During the mid-to-late nineteenth century, Minnesota faced public health issues such as poor sanitation and disease epidemics. To address these issues, Minnesota established a state board of health in 1872. It was the third such board in the United States.

World War II K-ration

World War II K-ration

World War II "K-ration" issued to a Minnesota soldier, c.1941-1944. The K-ration, developed by and named for University of Minnesota physiologist Ancel Keys, provided soldiers in World War II with calorie-rich foods and psychological sustenance in the form of cigarettes.

Sister Kenny demonstrates her techniques

Sister Kenny demonstrates her techniques

Sister Kenny demonstrates her techniques, c.1942. Her pioneering physical therapeutic approach to polio first received a positive response at the University of Minnesota and later shaped the standard treatment for polio.

Minnesota's first two American Indian nurses

Minnesota's first two American Indian nurses

Minnesota's first two American Indian nurses, Elizabeth Sherer and Josephine Parisien, c.1925. The Minnesota Department of Health started a Chippewa Nursing Service in 1923, hiring American Indian nurses to provide public health nursing services on reservations in northern Minnesota.

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