Evening star., 1949-08-08
Polio Care by Experts
Guaranteed THROUGH
Dimes Campaign
By Howard W. BIokesIee
Associated Press Science Editor

|
NEW YORK, Aug. S.-When
your child gets infantile paraly-
sis-his fate passes out of your
hands.
All you can do is to turn him
over to specialists, doctors and
nurses. and there are not many
Of these specialists in the entire
United States.
That's where the dimes you and
the children gave last winter
come to your aid. They produced
more than $20,000,000 now ready
to do the incredible medical job
of making this scarce aid ready
everywhere.
Your community has a local
chapter of the National Founda-
ton for Infantile Paralysis, one
of 1890 in the United States.
Call the community or nearest
National Foundation Office. They
have plans ready. For those un-
able to pay the full expenses, the
foundation expects to pay the
balance. And this is a lot of
money, about $1,000 being an
average expense for a single case.
Some run far higher.
$17,0O0,0O0 for Patient Care.
Local chapters of the founda-
ton keep half of the March of
Dimes funds collected, and most
of this goes to pay patients bills.
The policy of the foundation is to
pay all or part of the expense,
depending on each family's need
for help. When local funds are
exhausted, the national head
quarters advances money to help
meet the costs. Last year the
foundation and its chapters spent
$17.000,000 on patient care, in
Guiding $6,700,0O0 from the ma
tional headquarters.
The foundation undertakes to
find hospital where this care
can be given. Many hospitals have
neither the equipment nor the ex-
perienced personnel.
Where cases are numerous, the
foundation maintains teams of
expert doctors and nurses to go to
that area and train nurses and ad-
wise local doctors. These teams
are top men in polio in the lead
ing medical institutions Of the
Uuited States.
The foundation last winter took
in $25 100000 in the March of
Dimes. Half this went to local
chapters and half to the national
! foundation. Deducting the ex-
penses, there is about $40, 200, ZOO
left for polio aid and for research.
Outlay Exceeds Collections.
In last summers epidemic the
National Foundation spent about
s4.000,000 more than it received
in dimes money.
Some things which the experts
will do can later be done at home
by you. That will be in the cases
where it takes years of training
stricken muscles.
Where children are unable to
move a muscle. nurses or parents
or apparatus built for the purpose
does this exercise. Some day the
weakened muscles get able to do
some Of their own work. Results
sometimes look like miracles. The
reasons are intricate, but there is
little guess-work.
Bublar polio, the kind that
comes from damage to the bulb"
at the top of the spinal cord,
has lost some of its death-dealing
power. Bulbar kills in several
ways. 1t may paralyze swallowing
muscles. or breathing muscles or
interfere with heart action. In the
swallowing trouble, the child
chokes to death. Opening the
windpipe saves most of these. and
that was discovered only two
years ago. Iron lungs keep them
alive in the breathing paralysis
and pure oxygen helps tide over
the heart crises.
Drugs Relieve Pain.
The doctors may give the suf-
ferer myanesin of priscol to re-
lieve pain. but not because they
think there is any curative effect.
They use curare to loosen muscles
that insist on tying themselves
into knots. They have tried new
remedies like darvisul and gur-
eomycin. There are swimming
pools, rocking beds and other de-
vices for mild exercises.