Elizabeth Kenny Research Paper

Growing up with a selfless desire to help those in pain, Elizabeth Kenny used her nursing skills in the war; during this time polio became destructive, and she experimented and fought for her new methods of treatment that are still practiced today. Elizabeth Kenny’s willingness to learn and teach herself as a child is what influenced her independent unstoppable personality growing up. Elizabeth Kenny came into this world on September 20, 1886, in a small town called Warialda, Australia (“Kenny, Elizabeth” 371). Elizabeth was the fifth out of nine children in the Kenny family; during her early years, two of her siblings passed away one at birth, and one during a tragic accident (Fairley 3). As a young girl Kenny was an adventurer; she loved to ride horses, cows, pigs, anything she could get her hands on (Cohn …show more content…
The Kenny family moved around frequently in search of fertile farmland and good job opportunities (Kenny12). Kenny attended six grade levels of school, but back then that is as much schooling as there was in the outback (Cohn 27). Being the explorer Elizabeth was, she loved to ride horseback trails through the bush country; on one of her rides she ended up being bucked off because the saddle was not put on correctly (Cohn 27). She ended up fracturing her wrist badly enough for her parents to take her to Toowoomba, Australia, in search of a doctor (Cohn 27). Elizabeth was brought to Dr. McDonnell; there in his care her wrist was set back into place (Cohn 28). Dr. McDonnell had Elizabeth stay with his wife and him to make sure her wrist healed properly (Cohn 28). During Elizabeth’s adolescent years, she grew fascinated with the human body, the anatomy of bones, and the structure of muscles (Cohn 28). Kenny was able to teach herself the basic muscle function and locate where they were on the human body (Cohn