MiniMed 507C Insulin Pump used by Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999
date: label: date made
content: ca 1999
name: label: maker
content: Medtronic
notes: label: Description
content: When Nicole Johnson was crowned Miss America in September 1998, she wore a MIniMed 507C insulin pump. Although it was hidden under her clothing during the contest (and removed for the swimsuit segment), the pump became “front and center” after she won -- sharing “photo ops” with the crown itself. The pump was an integral part of Johnson’s image as she crossed the country during her year as Miss America advocating for the needs of people with diabetes.
label: Description
content: As Fortune Magazine reported near the end of her year as Miss America: “She took it off only for the swimsuit segment of the competition. The rest of the time, she hid it under her formal gown, in a little holster attached to her thigh. Pistol-packin' mama? Nope--Miss America 1999 with an insulin pump. An insulin pump so attractively designed that when she received her crown last spring, Nicole Johnson drew the device from its hiding place and told her huge audience that diabetes sufferers need no longer feel ashamed. She would use her pump to help spread the word.”
label: Description
content: What caught Fortune’s eye – and the eye of the public – was the new model 507 MiniMed insulin pump. The MiniMed pump had been available since 1983, but it had recently received a make-over by industrial designers RKS, who came to national attention in 1985 with their design of the electronic Teddy Ruxpin toy. MiniMed turned to the outside design firm to help ward off growing competition from European makers. The new design incorporated technological changes and a new backlit LCD screen into a small, sleekly-molded exterior available in several colors – including the new Charcoal Grey favored by Johnson. More colors (such as pink and purple) would be added to the MiniMed palate over the next several years. At a time when consumer electronics were rapidly changing (think of the colors introduced by iMac), the insulin pump was shedding its image as a beige “medical device” to become a more desirable consumer device. RKS consciously sought to remove the “stigma” and “embarrassment” that accompanied the medical device and replace it with the look of then-popular wearable communications devices. In their own words they developed an insulin pump “that allowed millions of diabetics to shed the stigma of being seen as 'sick.'" To what extent this is true is difficult to say, but if the sales of pumps are any indication MiniMed sales increased 357% over the next few years -- resulting in 2001 with the acquisition of MiniMed by Medtronic for $3.7 billion.
label: Description
content: Johnson’s crowning as Miss America and her very visible role as an advocate for pump technology throughout her year as a spokesperson, coincides with the redesign and expanding consumer acceptance of the pump. She had adopted the technology herself only about a year or so before the contest, which would have been about when the enhanced 507C came on the market. “Even after Miss America 1999 has passed her crown to her successor,” wrote the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “she is honored by thousands of Americans - not for her poise or her evening gowns, but for speaking out during her reign about the programmable insulin pump she wore strapped to her hip.”
label: Description
content: Born in St. Petersburg, Florida January 9, 1974, Nicole Johnson was a pageant contestant from an early age. When she fainted on stage at the 1993 Miss Sarasota/Manatee County pageant, doctors diagnosed her with type 1 diabetes. They recommended she give up the stressful competition schedule and its potentially unhealthy demands on Nicole's sleep and eating schedule. Undaunted, she continued to compete while working hard to control her blood sugar and insulin levels. After she slipped into a diabetic coma in her sleep while competing in the Miss Virginia contest in 1997, Johnson was fitted for a new medical device, a relatively compact and discrete insulin pump. Although she had to overcome her anxiety and self-consciousness about appearing with the pump at pageants obsessively focused on appearance and body image conformity, Johnson proudly displayed her pump at the 1998 Miss Virginia pageant, which she won. “It keeps me alive,” she told reporters at the pageant. “You are welcome to ask me anything about it.”
label: Description
content: As a competitor at the 1999 Miss America pageant, Johnson earned national media attention as the first contestant to compete while wearing an insulin pump.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Los Angeles, Sylmar
topic: label: related event
content: Miss America Pageant
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Diabetes
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Nicole Johnson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2021.0199.01
label: catalog number
content: 2021.0199.01
label: accession number
content: 2021.0199
objectType: label: Object Name
content: insulin pump
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic; metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5.1 cm x 8.7 cm x 2.3 cm; 2 in x 3 7/16 in x 29/32 in