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Polio Pioneers made history

Polio Pioneers made history image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
April
Year
2005
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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OCR Text

Polio Pioneers made history
Children who participated in vaccine trials look back with pride
IY GEOFf LARCOM
lkw<5loff.oporrct
Theyrememberthcfearat!IWimming
pools, the Jines atsdlools and
thetalkswit.htheirparentsabouttbe
historicimportanceoflheirva('('inationshotl!.
They were called •Polio Pioneers,~
thechildrenwhopartlcipatedinlhe
Salkvaccinetrials.
Fiftyyear:slater,somelocalresiden\
llwhowerePioneersretainvivid
memoriesoftheneedlesandsbots,
while otherscanbarelyreeallthose
moment.s.Buttbeyagreethatthcyare
proudtohavebeenpartofsomething
sosignlficantandsosuceessful
Herearesomeoftheirstories.
Wat•r fount.tln fears
"lreallyrcmembermymotherbeing
terrified each swnrner that I would
get polio,~ says Rich Uchtenstein, naw
anassocta.tedcanfofacadcmlcaffairs
attheUniversityofMichiganSchoolof
Public Health
He grew up in the Broru:,and remembers
the bubble-type drinking
fountains inthcneartypark,where
waterwouklshootupfromtllecenter.
Those fountains were off limits. ~1
don't want to you get polio,~ his motherwoulds.
ay.
Thevaccinetrialswerebeldduring
histhird-gradeye.ar.Themostst.riking
imagewasoftheelementaryschool
gym, where he'd played sports so
many times before. His classmates
stoodinlongUnes,staringatlheceiling
in a place normally filled with
shtuc~:n~~~~-sigbtoffive
orsixsetsoftables,ooveredbywhite
:~~~~~=·~~~ ::::.~~rtn~nJ ::
tors and nunes in white coats.
Some children crumpled to the floor
in fright. tryingtowriggleawayas
teacherspuUedthembackontotheir
feet.
The shots were administered in a
series, and the second time the syringebrokeinLichtenst.
ein'sarm.The
.li.q.u..i.d spreadoverbisarmandontohis ~They made me sit there a long
time;itseemedtikeanhour,"hesays
"Nowlrealizcthatthiliwasadoubleblindstudy.
Theyeou!dn'tcontinueto
givemethenextshot..Ithinkthey
might have had to call U·M to find out
whatgrouplwasin."
A trusured pin
~r just remember going to the gym
andbeinginline.Ukceveryothershot
lhadasakid,ithurt.."saysBarbara
Klllekamp,ate$earchassistantwho
grcwupinMuskegonandha.sworked
atU·MUndergraduateLibrarysince
"S"h ccan'trecallrcecivinghcrf'Uiio
Pioneerpln,buttreasuresiL ~uwas
theonethinginmylifeldidnotwant
to lose," Kolekamp says. ~In some
ways,it'sthebiggestthinglbavepar·
ticipatedin.
~1 remember the fear of polio. It was
~s5=g~~~~~~~~ed
Sherecallswarningsaboutpolioin
thebaekofeomiebooksandremem·
bel'll concern over going to Lake
Michigan beaches
Klllek.amp,whoreeeivedtheshots
asasceond-grader,saysnothingtoday
is as terrifyingaswaspoliolhen. ~n
wasunpreventable,withnoeseape,"
she says. "You either got it or you
didn't.Myparentsdidagoodjobofnol
beinghystericalinmysister'sormy
pres.ence. Wehadalllbevaccinesand
gotalotoflhematschool.Soitwas
notabigdcaltogetashot.
"Mymothersaidthatwhenlwent
... _.,.,...__...,_.....,. .. ~,
I-AI Mof'ienmm. chall'mlln of the depi~rtment of epldemlolog~ .lttha University of Michigan's School of Public Mutth, wu
one of the children lnocul.lted In 19S4In the polio vaccine trilols. He now holdo the title and occupl.es tha office of Thom11s
Fran intothegym,laskedwheretheeov·
eredwagonswere."
Small world
~lrememberbeingtoldtherewould
beaeomparisonbetweenthosewllo
recelvedtherealvaccineandthose
whogottheplacebo,"sa)lliHa!Morgenstern,
whogrewupinPurtJervis,
N.Y., and is now chairman of the epidemiology
department in the U·M
School of Public Health. ~I understood
atlheageof8or7theeonceptthal
theywcregoingtole!!tthisvaccine.
"I also remember when theyreleasedtheresults.
lhadgottenthe
realthing.lrememberthinkingthal
wrusgreat,thatldidn"tneedanymore
shots. But I remember getting the
boostershotsevcnmorethantheorig·
inalinoculation.lrememberstanding
outsideinl.ineonahot.sunnyA)',with
kids!alnting."
Decades later, when Morgenstem
moved from UCLA to U·M in :zoo~. he
knewhispositionasehairmanofthe
departmentofepidemiotogywasthe
same position Dr. Thomas Francis had
heldatU·M. Morgenstemevenhad
Francis'sameoftice. ButhehadneveT
reallythoughtmuchabouttheoddsof
af'UiioPioneergrowingupto1111·ork.in
lheexaetsamejobandplaceasFraneis.
That amazing hit of fate hit home recently
when Morgenstern was at his
parents' home, going through his
childhood desk. There, in one of the
drawel'll,washisSG-ycar-oldcanl,issued
by the National ~·oundation for
lnfantileParalysis,certifyingthalhc
wasaPtllioPioneer.
"lwasnotthinkingaboutmyrolein
hisstudyWJtillsawthatcanltMor
genstemsnys.
Would he let his own children participateinsuehastudytoday?
"I think I would Despite being a seient.
illt,youhavetomakepersonaldccis
ions. The fact that lnfonnation from
suchastudywouldhetppeopleinthe
futureisimportanl"
Morgensternnotedthatbeforehis
fatherdicdthrecandahaHyearsago,
it was suggested he enter a clinical
trialtotestdrugstofightAl%helrner·s
disease. Hismolherrefuscd,saying
she didn't want his father to be a
guinea pig.
Suehretieeneedidn'texistinl955
Polio affected many more people in the
c:ommunity,Morgenstemsays,andthc
Salk trials were well-organized "They
didn'thavecomputers.ltwasalldone
manually;~hesays."lt'sCJd:raordinary
wbenyouthinkaboutit."
dramatieoccurrence,thedeathofAl·
bertEinsteirL
"Myparentsusedthoseevents to
impressonmetheimportaneeofseienc:
eandmedicineandlhewaylhey
could change the world," says Pernick,
who now studies such moments
for his specialty. "The way theyexplainedthosethingsmustbaveereatedalevelofawarenessthatcarried
through."
It cam• too I at• for som•
"1 remember that we swam at one of
thebigcitypoolsfiveda,ysaweek,and
that is where people were scared,"
says Janice LaPointe, a sec:retaryin
the audiology and electrophysiology
department at the U-MHeallh System
"Theylhoughlyoueould
fllfl1ib'30 ycarslater.
Shelearnedthatthereasonthcir
minister walked on metal crutches
wasbecausehehadpolioasachild.
She was struckbyhowthevaecine
savedmany. butforothersitc:ametoo
late
~1 fell bad tbat he didn't have the
shot earlier,~ Lal'llintesays.
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