Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin

[Stephen Whiteside]

I was looking on Shelley's website just now and I saw her poem about Sister Elizabeth Kenny, an Australian nurse who pioneered a controversial treatment for polio.

It reminded me of a polio poem I wrote a few years ago.


Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin

War is over. Normal life
Now at last begins to flow;
Still two seats of sorrow, strife -
Atomic bombs...and polio.

Polio, each summer season,
Plays its devastating game;
Strikes with lack of rhyme or reason,
Leaves it victims dead or lame.

Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin,
Children, both, of Russian Jews;
Each invents a clever vaccine.
Leave a problem. Which to choose?

Salk's injected, Sabin's oral;
Salk's 'killed' virus, Sabin's live.
Sabin sees he has a moral
Task to see Salk's doesn't thrive.

The virus grows in your intestine.
Sabin's vaccine hits the spot;
Halts the viruses' clandestine
Multiplying. Saves a shot.

Jo and Albert, both amazing
Pioneers of public health;
Persevering, trail-blazing,
Ruling germs that kill by stealth.

© Stephen Whiteside 28.10.2011

[Neville Briggs]

We owe so much to a relatively small band of medical pioneers. Some of whom had to battle against stubborn prejudicial resistance.

I can remember in , I think, 1956 lining up at school to get a dose of oral polio vaccine. The thing I didn't like was that it was red and looked like a dose of blood, but I took it. I didn't want to get polio because I saw children at school who wore leg braces to support polio ravaged legs.

[Shelley Hansen]

Love your poem, Stephen! I posted my poem about Sister Kenny on this thread as a reply - to be a "companion" to your excellent tribute to Salk and Sabin. However it has been moved to a thread of its own (perhaps by a moderator).

I'd have liked to see them stay together (like the tin soldier and the paper ballerina) ... but not to be!

As Neville says, we owe so much to these intrepid men and women who pioneered the way to better health care

Cheers
Shelley

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Shelley. Your poem struck a chord with me - you don't find too many poems about polio!

It deserves its own thread.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Thank God a cure was found for that terrible disease that was a scourge back in the 1930's - 50's. I still recall my son getting his vaccine's on a sugar cube ...seemed so simple a step to stop such a terrible infection. I really don't get these mothers who are so against vaccinating their children these days. An excellent poem.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Maureen.

[Shelley Hansen]

Thanks Stephen.

Rod's uncle contracted polio around 1950 - well after Sister Kenny's active nursing career. He lost the use of his legs but walked with calipers and crutches and kept himself fit with swimming, until in old age the strength in his arms gave out and he had to give in to a wheelchair. He drove a modified car with hand operated controls. He died just a couple of years ago - almost 90 years of age. Quite remarkable that he survived so long!

It was after we visited the memorial to Sister Kenny in Nobby, Queensland, and I began to read a bit more about her, that I decided to write the poem. I recited it on our local radio station to commemorate the 60th anniversary of her death in 2012. I did sent it to the Toowoomba Regional Council who maintain the memorial and associated information at Nobby - but never received a reply.

Cheers
Shelley

[thestoryteller]

[quote="Neville Briggs"]We owe so much to a relatively small band of medical pioneers. Some of whom had to battle against stubborn prejudicial resistance.

Ain't that true.

Interesting read Stephen.


Merv.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Thanks, Merv.