Wins Fight Sister Elizabeth Kenny...Revolutionizes method of treating infantile paralysis.Nurse Upsets Theories on Cure of Polio Method Proved Effective After Lengthy Battle Oct 18 1942 By Sigrid Arne MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 17 (Wide World) Its two years since Sister Kenny, a big, positive mannered, gray haired Australian nurse, almost literally knocked on the gates of Minneapolis. She wanted something pretty startling. She wanted a chance to prove that the whole medical profession was wrong about its treatment of poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). And she didnt have even a medical degree. She had a letter from Morris Pishbein of the American Medical association, and another from Basil OConnor, President Roosevelts former law partner, and head of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The letters promised only that her treatment should have a fair trial in this country. The medical profession at large was not interested; some physicians were frankly skeptical. Tells Her Story She told her story. She told it several times. Bluntly. Sister Kenny is no Hedy La Marr. Shes tall and solid, her eyes flash as she speaks, she doesnt sugar coat. She just said plainly that, to her notion, doctors were making paralysis victims worse instead of better. She wanted 5000 to prove her case. For herself, she wanted no pay, just the simplest living expenses. She got what she wanted. She went to work at the Minneapolis General hospital. Now shes won. Shes won a fight as dramatic as the one Pasteur waged. Shes such an important figure now that local papers write editorials bawling out people for not giving her more money. More Important Wha's more important, the city voted to move three important clinics out of the big public health center so it can be turned over to the Australian nurse whos known as Sister Elizabeth Kenny. That sister is not a religious title. Its Australian for nurse. So its victory for a 30 year fight she waged almost single handed. Its easiest to understand if I tell it the way it happened. She was 26, and a public health nurse in Australias backwoods. No doctors for 40 miles. First, she was asked to treat one child who looked queer. Then three more came in. She telegraphed the nearest health doctor the symptoms. He wired back, Its infantile paralysis. Use your own judgment. Nowhere in her training had she been taught about the disease. Cut Up Blankets She cut up blankets, dipped them in boiling water, wrung them out tightly, and applied them to the painful spots of the patients bodies. She kept that up, day and night. The pain subsided. As soon as possible, and because she had an extremely good grounding in anatomy, she began to re educate the useless muscles. She guided the stricken parts of the body in normal movements, and at the same time told the patient exactly what muscles were being used and why. She told the patient to think hard, and will the muscle to move itself. Impressive numbers of patients left Sister Kenny restored to health. She decided from watching that the affected muscle was in spasm. That is, tied tight. Most of the rest of the world worked on a theory that was the exact opposite: That the disease made the stricken muscles flaccid, lifeless. So the doctors were protecting these muscles by immobilizing them, tying them up in splints and graces. Sister Kenny says now that splints and braces only contribute to the final disfigurement. Years in Backwoods She spent years in the backwoods. She spent more years as a nurse on troop transports during the World war. It was only 10 years ago that news of her work began to be heard. Australian doctors then formed a royal commission to investigate her theory. Her state government of Queensland built her clinics. The royal commissions report quite politely damned her, but her clinics were telling their own story. Her method was getting 80 per cent recoveries as against the 40 per cent claimed for the old treatment. Then she asked for help to go to the United States. She thinks ideas spread more quickly from here than from Australia. Christopher Columbus Benefactor of Humanity Five centuries ago a comparatively unknown navigator began a westward voyage across an ominously unknown sea. On the third of August, 1492, an expedition, comprising three small sailing vessels and 120 men under command of Christopher Columbus, sailed from the port of Huelva in southwestern Spain. Five hundred years ago today he sighted land on the western hemisphere. Through the storms and threats of discouraged seamen the microscopic fleet held its course until, on the twelfth day of October, 1492, he reached an island in the archipelago now known as the West Indies. Believing himself in Asia, the explorer regarded his anchorage as India, wherefore natives were given the designation of Indians. Returning to Spain the following January with two caravals, the third having been wrecked, Columbus gave the world an account of his voyage and discovery. In all probability other Europeans had seen this western continent before the coming of Columbus a distinction claimed by the Irish and Welch as well as by Norwegians, who erected a monument as evidence of their visit. But Christopher Columbus, whose nativity is claimed by several cities and whose nomadized bones are said to be finally resting in Seville, published a thrilling report that fired the imaginations and launched the vessels of other sailors in other lands, none of which has dulled his glory.