Temple Rotary - Newsletter - Archive (Jan 28, 2010)

It promises to be another great event for our club. There is talk about having a children's ride that will start from the center of town to Miller Park and back. There is a lot of creative ideas being addressed this year. This project promises to be very profitable fundraiser, which always means we can do more for the community. Please make an effort to help Jack and Bill. The event is less than 80 days away!

The Temple Rotary Club is sponsoring the Early Act First Knight Program at Lakewood Elementary School this year. It is an exciting program that teaches children what Rotary is and does. More importantly it is a character training program that includes the Four Way Test.

This is a meeting that Rotarians and a handful of children meet to discuss and direct their international and local community service projects.

If you are interested in joining this committee please get with Barbara Bozon. To find out more about this program go to the Early Act First Knight website is www.eafk.org.

Stephanie Turnham introduced our speaker, Dr. Heather Wooten. Dr. Wooten was raised in Abilene, Texas and currently lives in Houston, Texas. She received her doctorate in Medical Humanities from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Her visit to our Rotary Club was not her first trip to Temple. Dr. Wooten recalled that Temple was the mid-point for her trips to Houston to see her grandparents. Later Temple would once again be of significance as Dr. Wooten researched the effect of the polio epidemics on Texas. Her work is now published in the book, “The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown.”

You will note I stated “polio epidemics.” Dr. Wooten told us that there had been a great deal of research on poliomyelitis (“polio”) from a national standpoint, but her interest was in the regional response to this terrible disease. Indeed Texas was one of the states that was hit hardest by polio. During the period after World War II until the late-1950’s there was at least one polio outbreak a year in Texas! While Dr. Wooten was not in the cohort of young people who were at the greatest risk of contracting polio, she could recall seeing students who walked with braces or showed other signs of the effects of polio.

During her graduate school years she was intrigued by how certain diseases affect a culture. She also met polio survivors, one of whom now suffers from post-polio syndrome (“PPS”). This individual shared with Dr. Wooten her frustration with the medical community’s general ignorance of polio. How can it be that a disease that had such a lasting impact on our country could become a medical anachronism? What is to become of the valiant polio survivors who defied the odds and thrived to adulthood, but now have symptoms rooted in their battle with polio?

Dr. Wooten came to realize how much we will lose if we do not preserve the oral histories of how our society responded to the outbreaks of polio. We must retain the personal stories of the survivors, their friends and families. We must never forget the communities that were racked with fear and suspicion. With the onset of more modern viral outbreaks such as Aids, SARS, Bird Flu, Hanta viruses and Ebola, we must understand the societal and cultural effects of these diseases so that we can better respond in more humane ways to the logical fear and anxiety of people.

Dr. Wooten used her research to take us back to the period when the polio outbreaks hit communities like Waco, San Angelo, and Corpus Christi. People were terrified of this disease. There was no clarity of when or why an outbreak would occur. There was some contagion with no known source, therefore, how could you protect yourself or your family? One answer was to stay away from crowds. Thus, pools were closed. DDT was sprayed on communities. Some thought it best to bypass places where there were outbreaks. Guilt by association was the theme of the day. Dr. Wooten said in some communities nurses had to avoid showing their uniforms or risk not being allowed on public transportation. Imagine selfless medical workers at the frontline of battle against illness being viewed as a possible source of danger. Unbridled fear will do that to a person. It is understandable and yet it is such a sad and unfortunate state of affairs. No one knew if the virus was spread by air, water or some other mode.

Nonetheless, Americans have this amazing response to the horrific. While it is the case that many adopted angry responses to the threat of polio, like the grandfather who took his grandson in to be examined and told the doctor, grandfather with gun in hand, that his grandson would not be diagnosed with polio. There were others who used this crisis as an opportunity to rise above the common fray and press toward a higher more reasoned approach to the polio epidemic. Thus the Texas landscape of the polio years is riddled with examples of low points in humanity balanced by high points that make us all proud.

Responses to the polio epidemics resulted in advancing the field of virology, as well as the advent of rehabilitative institutions. In 1921 a group of Masons recognized the need to provide superior medical care to families regardless of their ability to pay. They approached Dr. W. B. Carrell, the first orthopedic surgeon in Dallas, about providing care to children with polio. This was the origin of Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas. That hospital developed a rehabilitative focus largely due to the polio crisis. Rotarians also rose to the challenge of polio with concerted efforts to fight the disease and to provide services to the victims.

As our knowledge of this dreaded disease improved, we identified Bulbar Polio which paralyzes the diaphragm resulting in the victim being unable to breathe.

In the 1900’s inventors, Phillip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw, developed a device to assist victims of coal gas poisoning which became known as the “iron lung.” This device was used on a polio victim in Boston. The child was placed in the device and within seconds her condition improved. The device saved thousands of lives of polio victims.

The Salk and Sabin vaccines made polio a distant memory in the United States and most of the Western Hemisphere. In fact in the 1950’s, thanks to Killeen-born, Oveta Culp Hobby, the First Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Texas was a key participant in the field trials of the Salk vaccine. The success of the Salk vaccine in participating states caused Secretary Hobby to implement a program to administer the vaccine to school-age children throughout the country. The Salk and Sabin vaccines have rid the U.S. of polio, but not PPS.

Dr. Wooten said the best part of her research was sharing the stories of these extraordinary times. She told us about Michael LeFan who suffered from one of the most aggressive forms of polio which left him paralyzed except for the toes of his left foot. Mr. LeFan graduated from Temple College. He continued his education at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor where he earned a bachelor’s degree with highest honors in English. He is also one of the few polio survivors who must continue to use an iron lung. This challenging hand that life dealt Mr. LeFan has not stopped him from succeeding. He has written many articles, brochures, etc. as part of his career as a business copywriter.

Dr. Wooten told of Mr. LeFan’s memory of being transported from Waco to Houston by ambulance. Recognizing the urgency of the situation the ambulance drivers drove in shifts never once taking a foot off of the accelerator as they alternated driving duties!

Dr. Wooten also shared the story of the mother who, upon learning that her child had polio, burned all of his possessions. Undoubtedly, she was unclear of the source of her child’s illness, therefore destroying everything seemed a reasonable way to protect the family.

Another story that Dr. Wooten shared was of the wards with the iron lung devices. The machines were lined up and children were pulled out of them as if they were cookies on baking sheets.

How a community responds to adversity tells us about the depth of humanity there. The storms in West Texas were a distinct challenge to the operations of iron lung machines. If there were power outages, lives would be lost. When the severe storms hit, men would rush to the wards to operate the machines manually. The exertion was such that the most able could only pump the machine for a few minutes at a time. That restriction did not stop the effort. How can we explain such behavior save to say it represents the best in our human instinct.

Keep in mind that those who survived polio were faced with extreme challenges. There was no American with Disabilities Act. There were steps everywhere that could stop the faint of heart. But with the help of friends and family no obstacle was too great for the survivors. Many went on to live that greatest of feats—ordinary lives, including attending school, getting married, having families and being productive citizens.

Dr. Wooten reminded us that poliomyelitis is not a disease of the past. Polio defines the lives of survivors. It defines the lives of their family and friends. Polio has not been eradicated from countries like Pakistan, parts of India, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Rotarians have been constant soldiers in the battle against polio, with the goal of eradicating polio from the face of the Earth by 2012/3. We Rotarians know that polio will be a forgotten disease only if we remain vigilant.

Now one question remains. How is polio spread? Dr. Wooten said it is in the family of viral diseases that are spread “from hand to mouth.” This means that it is ingested orally. It then grows in the throat and spreads to the intestines. If it pierces the intestinal wall, it attacks the nervous system and causes severe damage, such as paralysis. It is interesting to note that infants were often protected against the most severe forms of polio by their mothers’ milk. As sanitation improved, polio attacked older children who did not have their mother’s protection and resulted in more severe cases of the disease.

Dr. Wooten will be at the Bell County Museum, 201 N. Main St. in Belton, Texas on Saturday, January 23^rd from 2-4 pm to present a program on her book. There will also be copies of her book for sale. Call 254-933-5243 for more information.

January 28 - Max Mawhirter - Your Greatest Comeback

February 4 - Possibly Senator Fraser - Tentative

February 11 - Richard Skopik - TxDot District Engineer

February 18 - Dr. Jim Anderson - Chancellor of Central Texas College

February 25 - B. Gen. Peter Atkinson, Canadian Army

- Deputy III Corp Commander