Infantile Paralysis Unit -- George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskegee Institute NHS, Tuskegee AL
N 32° 25.776 W 085° 42.402
16S E 621591 N 3588791
A grim reminder of the decades before vaccines, an exhibit at the George Washington Carver Museum of the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site in Tuskegee AL recalls the Tuskegee Infantile Paralyis Unit
Waymark Code: WMWHHD
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2017
Views: 1
In a segregated society, the Tuskegee Infantile Paralyis Unit treated African-American children struck down by a disease that didn't discriminate at all.
The sign reads as follows:
""INFANTILE PARALYSIS UNIT
The unit, headed by Doctor John W. Chenault, was the first and only polio treatment center for Blacks in the United States.
Tuskegee Institute was the logical choice because all of the necessary support services were already available at the Institute, and could be easily adapted for long-term polio treatment, care, and therapy needed for the patients.
Patients were sometimes admitted to the treatment center for as long as 2 or 3 years, and often required special education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and sometimes orthopedic surgery during their length of stay.
Vocational training was also provided through existing curriculum at the Institute.
Doctor John F. Hume, a graduate of Howard University medical school and the second black orthopedic surgeon in the country, joined the staff in 1951 and later succeeded Doctor Chenault as its director.
Carver research foundation was one of the laboratories used to provide HeLa cell cultures used as a medium to grow the virus in a laboratory, which later led to the discovery of the Salk vaccine. The Salk vaccine all but eliminated the dreaded disease from the face of the earth."
Group that erected the marker: National Park Service
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Tuskegee University
George Washington Carver Museum
Tuskegee, AL
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