The iron lung at the David Warnock Medical Museum is a sobbering reminder of the power of vaccines. Photo / Palmerston North City Council
The iron lung at the David Warnock Medical Museum is a sobbering reminder of the power of vaccines. Photo / Palmerston North City Council
OPINION:
Having my tonsils out was great. Mum no longer needed to try and hide pills in chocolate, my throat no longer hurt and while I was recuperating I not only got jelly and icecream but also a spoon I could bang on a basin when I needed attention.
So,I spent a long time staring at the diagram of a tonsil guillotine in Bailliere's Nurses' Medical Dictionary from 1952. The dictionary is one of many treasures in the David Warnock Medical Museum at Palmerston North Hospital. It's one of those places that has been on my must-do list for years. Last week's Local History Week gave me the jab in the butt I needed to get myself through the doors.
Medical history, much like the history of torture, both fascinates and repels me. It always makes me grateful for the medical, scientific and human rights advances I now benefit from.
Jean-Baptiste Bailliere founded the medical and scientific publishing house of Bailliere in Paris in 1818. Instead of a Dior design, we have a diagram of the head of a tapeworm, Eve's tonsil snare, and cataract spoons. Something Dior might admire is a beautifully decorated blue and yellow receptacle for leeches.
The British Encyclopedia of Medical Practice 4 starts with diarrhoea and ends with endoscopy of the rectum - surely just a coincidence.
The contents of a midwife's bag from 1920 are enough to put you off sex for life.
I recently wrote about my mother's friend Ngaire, who had polio. The museum has an iron lung, complete with model inside. It's sobering. The instructions say for paralysis you need negative pressure and the knob on the pressure valve should be pushed in. For near-drownings you need positive pressure and the knob should be pushed out. You wouldn't want to get that around the wrong way.
There's a collection of nurses' and doctors' uniforms including a striking maroon blazer with ad discendum intrate exite servitun (go in to learn) emblazoned on it.
The museum is staffed by volunteers and four were on duty when I visited. It was delightful hearing them chat about medical memories. A photo of volunteer Micki Tyler's sister Anne Kerr features in the dental section; they were both dental nurses.
This year is the centenary of New Zealand's School Dental Service. While there was much talk of the murder house when I was at school, to me it was where you got handmade butterflies. I was one of the lucky ones.
It looks like a jail but used to be the pharmacy at Palmerston North Hospital. Photo / Palmerston North City Council
Sadly, the museum is not well known even among hospital staff. The telephonist didn't know what I was talking about at first. It is easy to find if you follow the directions to the letter. Go to gate 5 in Heretaunga St, opposite Tyndall St. Look for the medical museum sign on the left before the barrier arm.
The museum was established in 1980 by Dr David Warnock, a collector of medical memorabilia. It is now administered by a charitable trust.
It is open on the first and third Friday of the month 2-4.30pm or by arrangement for groups. Entry is by gold coin donation.
I haven't had surgery for which I've had to disrobe for decades. When I had an op to remove an infected toenail, a general anaesthetic would you believe, at Patea Hospital I was wheeled into the operating theatre. As I stood up the hideous cord-tied bloomers fell to the floor. The shame! And I didn't get jelly and icecream afterwards!
