Caretaker | The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown

The polio years | The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown | Heather Green Wooten

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	• The Polio Years in Texas: Battling a Terrifying Unknown Heather Green Wooten TAMU Press, 2009 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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The metaphor of War is correct

The subtitle tells the truth about the scourge that brought calamity to so many lives. Battling is what the victims did, battling is was what the doctors did, battling is what the mothers did when they marched against this dread disease. Each year during the polio times my mother and her friends met in the kitchen, stood around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes, and planned their battle strategy: They were going to go out into that cold night into that poor Queens neighborhood and wring as much money as possible from whoever answered the door. They were sure that sooner or later the money that they raised would conquer the small RNA virus that was plaguing their families. And, in theirown way, they did help win the war. So here we have the authentic history of the polio years in Texas, the real quill, told in fast, clear, language with much detail and a deep understanding of the human heart. Heather spent plenty of time and energy getting the facts straight and then using her great skill as a writer in getting the story told in an interesting and satisfying manner. Her book is recommended to those who want to know what happened, who helped (most of the clinical studies of the vaccine were done in Russia), who did't help and why. The problem got solved eventually by the cooperative efforts of many people. If only we could have similar cooperation in health care reform!

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Caretaker

Heather has written a book that is well researched and has many interview records with people who weathered the effects of the disease themselves or helped a child or other relative to recover.
Our eldest daughter contracted polio when she was five years old and unlike some parents I was able to stay with her during her time in isolation. This was in January of 1950 and a hospital in Beaumont, TX was in the process of opening a designated ward for polio patients. She and I spent three weeks alone on an otherwise vacant floor. The therapist who was to begin treatments was contacted and arrived expeditiously. There was the huge Hubbard Tub for the water therapy and the agonizing hot packs which were a part of the therapy at that time.
Later funds for March of Dimes were low, our insurance had been used to the limit, and her grandfather who had had polio when he was twelve (about 1900) sent supplemental funds to help cover expenses. I became the care taker at home who gave the painful exercises to my child and she saw the therapist at intervals for evaluation. After several months the stiffness gradually was worked out of all areas except her left leg. Several surgeries followed at growth intervals to enable the growth and use of the leg. Over the years I have been rewarded by hearing her tell someone what her mother had helped to accomplish during her recovery.
Thank you, Heather, for your subject choice and hard work.

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The polio years

The best book I have read in years!!! As a polio survivor, I learned SO MUCH!!!

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Well written and enlightening

Dr. Wooten's book is an excellently written account of the history of polio in Texas. She captures not just the facts, but also the gestalt of the state and the country at the time. The writer ads interesting facts and asides that lend depth and context to the story she tells so eloquently. For anyone with knowledge of Texas or the medical culture here, the book provides a second level of reading in providing a background and explanation of the development of the major biomedical centers and institutions across the state. I found this a very worthwhile and enjoyable read enriching my understanding of a terrifying disease as well as the development of Texas as a medical powerhouse.

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From the 1930s to the 1950s, in response to the rising epidemic of paralytic poliomyelitis (polio), Texas researchers led a wave of discoveries in virology, rehabilitative therapies, and the modern intensive care unit that transformed the field nationally.

The disease threatened the lives of children and adults in the United States, especially in the South, arousing the same kind of fear more recently associated with AIDS and other dread diseases. Houston and Harris County, Texas, had the second-highest rate of infection in the nation, and the rest of the Texas Gulf Coast was particularly hard-hit by this debilitating illness. At the time, little was known, but eventually the medical responses to polio changed the medical landscape forever.

Polio also had a sweeping cultural and societal effect. It engendered fearful responses from parents trying to keep children safe from its ravages and an all-out public information blitz aimed at helping a frightened population protect itself. The disease exacted a very real toll on the families, friends, healthcare resources, and social fabric of those who contracted the disease and endured its acute, convalescent, and rehabilitation phases.

In The Polio Years in Texas, Heather Green Wooten draws on extensive archival research as well as interviews conducted over a five-year period with Texas polio survivors and their families. This is a detailed and intensely human account of not only the epidemics that swept Texas during the polio years, but also of the continuing aftermath of the disease for those who are still living with its effects.

Public health and medical professionals, historians, and interested general readers will derive deep and lasting benefits from reading The Polio Years in Texas.

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