Polio

Jackson Marvin pushed Emiliano to the ground. “Grandpa!” Jackson shouted. The bell rang. Emiliano couldn’t get up because he could not reach his cane. Emiliano had deformed legs and arms from polio, so he needed a cane to walk. His family couldn’t afford anything else to help Emiliano, so he just had a cane. Emiliano was still on the blacktop in the Springston Elementary schoolyard, in Duluth Minnesota. Ten minutes past, and no one came to help him. He did not have any friends who stuck up…

reason as to why the vaccine would be contraindicated. According the US Department of Health and Human Resources (2017), a vaccine is an invention that can provide immunity from a specific disease; those specific diseases range from influenza to polio. Most public schools require that a child has been immunized before they can attend; and this has started a lot of controversy from parents who feel that they should not be forced into vaccinating their children before they can receive an…

For example, in 1946, the city of San Antonio conducted a city-wide spraying of DDT to prevent the spread of polio. Video of the spraying shows the city covered in a massive cloud of DDT. Although unknown at the time, insects did not transmit polio, but they did cause the spread of Malaria which was another critical issue during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1945, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) transformed…

asserts that vaccines are “one of the best ways to protect your children” (1). The government highlights this importance by giving the pros of getting vaccines (they are safe, and keep your family and community disease free), showing specific examples (polio eradicated in the U.S.), and offering support websites for low-income families. The government gives these examples and resources in order to convince the public to get their children vaccinated. The DHHS uses simple language to make the…

No surprise that when evidence linking the MMR vaccine and Autism was published in 1998 it created concerns for parents. The study was debunked and the doctor lost his license but the lasting doubt continued to have a ripple effect throughout the US resulting in a decreased immunization rate and “herd immunity”. In Dec 2014 such an outbreak occurred at Disney Land in southern California. A suspected out of country traveler with measles came to the amusement park and ultimately infected 147…

Health promotion and disease prevention has come a long way in the United States over the years. In the early years of this country, prevention was limited to keeping disease out of the country by containing it coming in on ships from other countries. As time progressed, sanitation became the focus on prevention. Americans began to realize that poor sanitation practices were contributing to the spread of infectious diseases. The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century saw a shift in…

An infinitesimal girl, in dire need of a heart transplant, hopelessly looks around her dull hospital room with no excitement in her eyes. At her age, she should be outside but, she is hooked up to a ventilator which is essentially breathing for her. She has been in the same hospital room for the past five months, longing for the heart that she might never get. However, if the U.S government increased funding for embryonic stem cell research, scientists would be able to genetically program…

Kettering Health Network, located in Kettering, Ohio, is a not-for-profit network of eight hospitals, Kettering College, and over 120 outpatient facilities serving southwest Ohio with nearly 12,000 employees and 2,100 physicians. Patients have access to high quality maternity care, state-of-the-art cancer fighting technology, along with Ohio’s leading heart hospital, as well as revolutionary brain and spine surgery. In the spirit of Seventh-day Adventist health care ministry, Kettering strives…

Over the years, animal experimentation has been an ongoing debate about whether the procedures meet ethical standards. Animal experimentation is the use of living animals for research purposes to assess the effectiveness of new medicine and consumer products. Animal testing is used towards enhancing products such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food additives, and household cleaners so that toxic encounters do not occur. Animals that are involved in experimental testing experience psychological…

Marjorie Cook, who she was named after, and William Gribben, who both taught her skills that she would end up using for her entire life. Unfortunately, when Margie, as her close friends and family called her, was only 4 years old, her mother died of polio on May 1, 1947. A few years later, her father got married to Ruby Munoz, who became the mother-figure in her life. Through all of her successes and downfalls, she still completed her number one goal in life, to become a very devoted and…