Rotary 5110 in Action eNews 07-27-2021

And that’s a good thing because it shows how much progress the world has made against polio, a terrible and now largely forgotten disease.

This metal tank is an iron lung, a mechanical respirator that saved the lives of thousands of polio victims. Using changes in air pressure, the iron lung pulls air in and out of a patient’s lungs, allowing them to breathe and stay alive.

See this YouTube link to witness them at work and Bill Gates’ message as one of the Rotary effort’s strongest advocates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKLczqn3COU&t=3s During the height of the polio epidemic in the U.S., rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards to treat thousands of polio patients, most of them children. Click here for the whole story.