1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from works 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:13,319 Speaker 1: dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm turning 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: tem Wilson and I'm Holly Fryed. So most people, at 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: least in the United States have probably at least heard 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: of Walter Reid, if only for the name of the 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: Army Medical Center before it became kind of notorious due 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: to a really huge neglect scandal in the late two thousands. 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: It had previously made a name for itself as the 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: heart of military medicine in the United States. UM. The 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: Army Medical Center actually closed in eleven and was replaced 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,959 Speaker 1: by Walter read National Military Medical Center. So it's probably 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: a surprise to no one that you know, the major 13 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: military medical center in the United States was named for 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: an Army doctor, and that was Walter Reid. Walter Reid 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: did truly ground breaking work into the causes and prevention 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: of yellow fever, which was a hugely destructive disease to 17 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: the American military and to other militaries and to civilians 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: outside of the military world, UM, both within and outside 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: of the United States. But he really didn't do this 20 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: all on his own. His accomplishments really built on a 21 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: foundation of other doctors and other researchers. But even so, 22 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: it had a huge and drastic impact on public health 23 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: UH and on the American military's ability to work in 24 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: tropical locations, which had previously been fraught with all kinds 25 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: of health problems. So Walter Reed was born on September 26 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: thirteenth of eighteen fifty one to Lemuel Sutton and Faraba 27 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: White Red. Lemuel was a Methodist minister, and Walter had 28 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: four older siblings, three brothers and one sister named Laura, 29 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: who was the oldest. Because the elder Read was a minister, 30 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: the family spent most of Walter's childhood moving from place 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: to place as the Methodist Church assigned him to different congregations. 32 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: Walter's older brothers, two of them Tom and James, fought 33 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: for the South during the Civil War, which ran through 34 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: Walter's early teenage years. After the war was over, Lemuel 35 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: requested that he moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. He wanted his 36 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: sons to be educated, and living in Charlottesville meant that 37 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: they could go to the University of Virginia, and his 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: request was indeed granted. Unfortunately, though Walter's mother died not 39 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: long after they arrived in Charlottesville, and she was only 40 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: forty one at that point. Walter was only fourteen, and 41 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: it might have been her death that prompted him to 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: really throw himself into his studies. He was just an 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: exceptional student even before he started college. A sort of 44 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: a side note, his father also remarried pretty quickly, and 45 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: the rest of the family quickly became very fond of 46 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: his new wife. Not long after his mother's death, Walter, 47 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: now fifteen at this point, started school well. At the 48 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: University of Virginia. Students normally could not enroll until they 49 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: were sixteen, but exceptions were made if they had older 50 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: brothers attending, and two of Walter's three older brothers were 51 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: already in school there, although it turned out that Walter 52 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:17,679 Speaker 1: was the only one of them to graduate. He originally 53 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: intended to study classics that he soon made the move 54 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: to the medical program instead. This actually was largely due 55 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: to financial and time reasons. It was faster and thus 56 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: cheaper to get an m d than an m A, 57 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: which probably seems extremely strange to people who are familiar 58 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: with how much it takes to get a medical degree today, 59 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: and Walter's medical training touches on a number of previous 60 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 1: podcast subjects. So cadavers used for study were provided to 61 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: the school by resurrectionists who stole them from local graveyards, 62 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: which we talked about in our episode on the Doctor's Riot. 63 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: And like many of the other historical doctors we've talked about, 64 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: Walter's first round of medical study included almost no practical 65 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: or clinical work. So when he graduated on July one, 66 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, after just two years, and also as 67 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: one of the youngest people to do it, he had 68 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: to pursue another degree so that he could get more 69 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: actual hands on experience being a doctor. And first the 70 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: young doctor Reid went to New York, where he enrolled 71 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: in Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He got another m d 72 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: there in eighteen seventy, and since he'd taken care of 73 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: most of his science and medical classes in Virginia, this 74 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: was mostly hands on study, and then he went on 75 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: to do internships at hospitals around New York. A lot 76 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: of reads work during this time was with poor people 77 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: in communities that didn't have a lot of medical resources, 78 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: so he became increasingly aware of the kinds of diseases 79 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: that really caused crises in the world of public health. Typhus, typhoid, 80 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: and yellow fever, for example, were all diseases that could 81 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: just ravage poor communities, and he started working to understand 82 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: all of them. This is particularly true during the four 83 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: months he spent working at King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, 84 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: New York in eighteen seventy one, because that was a 85 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: facility specifically for the poor. By eighteen seventy three, and 86 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: at this point he was only twenty two, Read joined 87 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,679 Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Board of Health as an assistant sanitary officer, 88 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 1: and this meant that he was too busy to start 89 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: a private practice, and he was still so young that 90 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: people didn't really seem to take him seriously. Reid started 91 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: a doubt that he would ever be able to make 92 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: the kind of change he wanted since he could not 93 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: seem to get people to respect his knowledge in the 94 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: medical field. So, seeing that he wasn't going to be 95 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: able to make the kinds of strides that he really 96 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: wanted to, he eventually decided to join the Army Medical Corps, 97 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: which were a multi day multidisciplinary affair, in January of 98 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy five. Afterward, he was commissioned as a first 99 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: lieutenant at the age of twenty four, and as all 100 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: of this uh professional development was going on, Reid had 101 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: been courting a woman named Emily Lawrence, primarily through letters. 102 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: He had met her while visiting family in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, 103 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy four, and he married her on April 104 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six before he left for Arizona Territory with 105 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: the Medical Corps. He actually dinnerd quite a lot about 106 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: getting married. He had some worries about what life was 107 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: going to be like for the wife of a frontier 108 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: army doctor. Um. He just sort of seemed concerned in 109 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: a lot of ways, and so she had to do 110 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,279 Speaker 1: some convincing, including kind of implying that perhaps someone else 111 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: was interested in her, so maybe he ought to get 112 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: his act together. Um. So when he did finally propose, 113 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: it was pretty sudden. He basically proposed, and then they 114 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:55,840 Speaker 1: wedged the wedding into a window of time when he 115 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: could actually make it to Murfreesboro to have the ceremony. 116 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: The newly weds didn't actually get to live together until 117 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: the following November, when Emily met him in San Francisco 118 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: after taking a train which was a side note had 119 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: some sort of wreck along the way across the country, 120 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: and this was just the first of many separations they 121 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: would endure due to his work, and they wrote each 122 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: other volumes of letters during these times apart. It was 123 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: also the first of many adventures in their marriage, because, 124 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier, a lot of his early career 125 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: in the medical Corps involved him being a frontier doctor. 126 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: He was moved from one post to another, and often 127 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: their existence was really difficult and isolated, and a lot 128 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: of the hospitals that he worked from were basically temporary 129 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: structures meant to sort of serve a temporary need out 130 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,119 Speaker 1: on the frontier. They eventually had a son named Walter 131 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: Lawrence and a daughter named Emily, who they called Blossom. 132 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: Walter Senior most likely delivered his son himself, as at 133 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: that point they were stationed at for Apache on the frontier. 134 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: Also living with them for many years it was a 135 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: young Native American girl named Susie, who Read had treated 136 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: for serious burns after some sort of inter tribal battle. 137 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: Susie wound up living with the family for about fifteen years. 138 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: He was sort of a combinations surrogate daughter and help 139 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: around the house. At first, Read was a frontier Army doctor, 140 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: as we said, moving from garrison to garrison mostly around 141 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: the American West, and these remote outposts did not have 142 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: the sorts of facilities or resources that Read needed to 143 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: continue his studies of bacteriology and pathology, so he requested 144 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: a leave of absence. As Tracy said, a lot of 145 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: these facilities were just temporary setups, so they were not 146 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: going to have a lab where he could really do 147 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: this work. Instead, he ended up transferred to Baltimore at 148 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: a couple of points, which allowed him to work at 149 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: Johns Hopkins University Hospital Pathology Laboratory. Two really monumental things 150 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: happened in Read's life in eight and we're going to 151 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: talk about them after a brief word from US sponsor. 152 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: To get back to Walter, Read a couple of big things, 153 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: as we said, before the break changed in his life. 154 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: In one George Miller Sternberg became the Surgeon General and 155 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: to the new Surgeon General established the Army Medical School. 156 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: He did this kind of discreetly because Congress was reluctant 157 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 1: to spend money in the wake of a financial panic. 158 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: That year. Walter was named to the Army Medical schools faculty. 159 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: At this point, Read had been promoted up through the 160 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: ranks in the military to major. He was also appointed 161 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: to be the curator of the Army Medical Museum and 162 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: had become a faculty member at Columbian University, which would 163 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: eventually become George Washington University. So, after years of moving 164 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: from place to place, he and the family went to Washington, 165 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: d c. And while he continued to travel for his work, 166 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: this put an end to constantly uprooting the family to 167 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: go to a new outpost. His early interest in public 168 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: health played out in a study of the diseases that 169 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:07,119 Speaker 1: were most problematic to the military. So he studied typhoid, cholera, malaria, 170 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: which was still pretty prevalent in the U S at 171 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: the time, and yellow fever. In he studied a malaria 172 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: outbreak that happened at Fort Meyer and at the Washington 173 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: Army Barracks. There's actually a fair amount of medical work 174 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: going on at this time that correctly identified the cause 175 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: of malaria as a parasite that was spread by mosquitoes. 176 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: But you know, the world of information spread being much 177 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: uh more limited than it is today, this had not 178 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: caught hold everywhere yet and read in particular, didn't think 179 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: that the mosquito was the culprit, in part because he 180 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: had spotted a number of errors in the latest paper 181 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: that was promoting that connection. Instead, he thought it was 182 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: bad air, which is not surprising. A lot of people 183 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: thought it was bad air, and the world malaria comes 184 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: from Italian terms for bad air. And while he was 185 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: definitely on the wrong track, he did dispel the idea 186 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: that malaria was water born. He pointed out that healthy 187 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 1: people in Washington were using the same water source as 188 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:14,439 Speaker 1: six soldiers in Fort Meyer, and that saw the highest 189 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,559 Speaker 1: number of malaria cases in years, even though a water 190 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: filtration program was in place. His research wound up looking 191 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: at all kinds of factors and found all kinds of 192 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: patterns and who got malaria and when. So even though 193 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: he never arrived at the correct conclusion from all of it, 194 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: it was useful data to have. The Spanish American War 195 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: broke out in and it only went on for roughly 196 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 1: three and a half months, and in the end the 197 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: United States had temporary control of Cuba and had troops 198 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 1: stationed there, but this came with a number of problems. 199 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,439 Speaker 1: Cuba's tropical climate was home to several diseases that US 200 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: troops had little or no natural resistance to. Wilter Reid 201 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: been extensive work pertaining to two of them, typhoid and 202 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: yellow fever. During this period, the Secretary of War appointed 203 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: a medical board that he directed to study diseases that 204 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: were prevalent on Cuba. The Surgeon General also established a 205 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: board specifically to study yellow fever, and for that board, 206 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: Read was tapped to be head. He traveled back and 207 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: forth between Washington and Cuba several times over the next 208 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: several years working with these diseases. UH first typhoid fever, 209 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: so not to be confused with typhus, which is spread 210 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: by fleas. Typhoid fever is caused by bacteria Salmonilla typhee, 211 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: which is spread through feces. Today, there is a vaccine 212 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: for it and it's usually treatable with antibiotics, but that 213 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: was not true in the eighteen hundreds. So typhoid is 214 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,600 Speaker 1: carried in the stools of infected people and it's transmitted 215 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 1: by contact in one way or another with those infected stools. 216 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: So that can mean flies crawling around on fece and 217 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: then crawling around on food. It can also be transmitted 218 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: when water or milk or are contaminated with infected feces, 219 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: and people can continue to spread it even after they've 220 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: recovered Allah the infamous typhoid Mary. At this time, the 221 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: military had huge sanitation procedures in place to try to 222 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: prevent the spread of typhoid, but many of them just 223 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,959 Speaker 1: weren't effective. They had to do with cleanliness and disposal 224 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: of waste, but it's still spread from one infected person 225 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: to another. Camps would be relocated entirely for fear of 226 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: contaminated water sources. Although Reid was definitely involved in study 227 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: and trying to come up with plans for how to 228 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:47,359 Speaker 1: prevent the spread of the disease, like new latrine designs 229 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: to try to keep the waste away from other things. 230 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: The primary researchers on it were Victor Vaughan and George Sternberg, 231 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: and unfortunately their work didn't really get to a satisfy 232 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: factory conclusion. During Reed's lifetime, they didn't manage to wipe 233 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: out typhoid. It was basically endemic in the military, and 234 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: efforts to clean up after it just were not enough. 235 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: In the end, Vaccines, which were developed not long after 236 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 1: the turn of the century, did a lot more to 237 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: stop the disease than all of their hygiene efforts, which 238 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: were just not sufficient. In the end, he took a 239 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: much greater lead in the fight against yellow fever, and 240 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: his work with yellow fever wound up being a lot 241 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: more effective than the work of the team was doing 242 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: to try to control typhoid. Yellow fever was a huge 243 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: problem in Cuba as well as in parts of the 244 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: United States. In less tropical parts of the world, the 245 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: disease was fairly seasonal, with huge outbreaks when the weather 246 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: was warm. It's a hemorrhagic disease that causes fever, joint pain, vomiting, hemorrhaging, 247 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: bloodshot eyes, and jaundice. Yellow fever had two nicknames. One 248 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: was yellow Jack, which obviously was because of the jaund 249 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: and the other one and heads up, this is gross, 250 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:06,600 Speaker 1: was the black vomit because in the end stages of 251 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 1: the disease, people would bleed into their digestive systems and 252 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: then they would throw that up, and what they threw 253 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: up was black because of the enzymes interacting with the blood. 254 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: One of the worst parts of disease was that the 255 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: symptoms often cleared up after a few days, which made 256 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: people think they were going to survive, but then the 257 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: symptoms would come back as the liver failed and the 258 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: internal hemorrhaging started. It was absolutely horrifying, and the mortality 259 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: rate was up to the prevailing theory before Walter Reid 260 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: really got involved was that yellow fever was spread by fomites. 261 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: And if you've ever played Plague, inc. You know that 262 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: these are external objects that are capable of hanging onto 263 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: and spreading disease. So when Native Americans contracted smallpox after 264 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: being given blankets that had been used by smallpox patients, 265 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: the blankets were fomites. However, some doctors already thought yellow 266 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: fever was spread by mosquitoes before Walter Reid got involved. 267 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: Cuban doctor Carlos Juan Finlay had first theorized that yellow 268 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: fever was spread by mosquitoes as early as eighteen eighty one. 269 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: He did a hundred and four different experiments between eighteen 270 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: eighty one and to study the diseases spread. Most of 271 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: Finlay's subjects were immigrant workers who allowed themselves to be 272 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: bitten by mosquitoes that had bitten yellow fever patients. And 273 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: it may seem kind of weird that people would be 274 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: okay with this exposure without some kind of other incentive 275 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: to to make it more enticing. But yellow fever was 276 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: so widespread that pretty much everybody thought if you were 277 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: in Havana long enough, you would eventually get it. So 278 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: a lot of people were like, I might as well 279 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: get it over with and actually have a doctor nearby 280 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: if it's going to happen to me. Finlay even figured 281 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: out which specific species he thought was at risk. This 282 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: was a common household mosquito that the time was called 283 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: q lex fasciatus, and now it's called eighties agip die 284 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: and I hope I have pronounced that remotely right. But 285 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: people did not take him seriously. This was in part 286 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: because some of his experiments failed. He thought the mosquito 287 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: bite was basically akin to a dirty needle. It was 288 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,160 Speaker 1: taking infected material from one person and putting it into 289 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: another person. He also thought the sickest patients were going 290 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: to be the ones most likely to transmit the disease 291 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: to the mosquito. So this is not actually how yellow 292 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: fever spreads, and we'll talk about that more in a moment, 293 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: but that meant that, you know, a lot of his 294 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,920 Speaker 1: experiments did not result in somebody getting yellow fever, and 295 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 1: people were sort of like, well, you're claiming it's the mosquitoes, 296 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: but the mosquito, but that guy he's not sick, so 297 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: you don't know what you're talking about. Walter Reid, for 298 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: his part, worked with a team of other doctors, including 299 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:54,679 Speaker 1: Jesse Lizier, Aristides Eggramonte, and James Carroll. They worked not 300 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: just off of Finlay's mosquito theory, but also off of 301 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,159 Speaker 1: actual mosquito eggs that Finlay collected. He figured out that 302 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: if you dried out mosquito eggs, they would still hatch 303 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: and mature with the right temperature and humidity. So, using 304 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: Finlay's harvested mosquito eggs uh reading, his team ran a 305 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: series of experiments. They hatched the mosquitoes from the eggs, 306 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: and then they allowed them to bite someone who was 307 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 1: infected with yellow fever. This is an extremely tedious, time 308 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: consuming process. They would put the mosquito in a test tube, 309 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: then put the test tube mouth down on somebody's skin, 310 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: and then like wait for the mosquito to get to biting. Uh. 311 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: They sort of tap the side of the test tube. 312 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,360 Speaker 1: If the mosquito was just perched on it not really 313 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: doing anything, but really, this is like hurting cats. Mosquitoes 314 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,959 Speaker 1: do not feed on people on cue. This reminds me 315 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Speaker 1: of an episode of UM, Why Am I blanking out? 316 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,920 Speaker 1: On the name of MythBusters. They were trying to get 317 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: a skunk to spray them and they just couldn't. It's 318 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: kind of like nature doesn't always do what you want 319 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: in a lab like yes. Well, and it will also 320 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: remind people of the saw Bones episode about self experimentation, 321 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,360 Speaker 1: because they talk about this part in in that episode. 322 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,960 Speaker 1: If you are a saw Bones fan, uh. And the 323 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: team approached this in a methodical way, as methodical as 324 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 1: you can be well trying to tap on a mosquito 325 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: to get it to bite someone. Uh. And in a 326 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: vast departure from much of the other research that we 327 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: talked about on this podcast, they did not use unwilling 328 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: organs and prisoners as test subjects. They used volunteers. These 329 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,919 Speaker 1: people gave their consent beforehand, and they were compensated for 330 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:38,120 Speaker 1: their participation a hundred dollars just for participating in another 331 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: and another hundred dollars if they actually got stick. UM. 332 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: This was basically revolutionary in the field of medical research. 333 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: It's probably the first time that informed consent became a 334 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:55,400 Speaker 1: thing in Western medical study and research. And through these 335 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: experiments they discovered a number of things about yellow fever transmission. 336 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: In sting why some of Finley's experiments failed, it became 337 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,919 Speaker 1: clear as they went that mosquitoes could only pick up 338 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: the virus from a sick person's blood two or three 339 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: days after infection, and it took two weeks of for 340 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: enough of the virus to reproduce inside the mosquito for 341 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: someone it bit to get sick, so there was an 342 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: incubation period that had not been accounted for, and after 343 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: that the mosquito could then spread the disease for a 344 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 1: couple of months. As a side note, this is why 345 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: mosquitoes don't transmit HIV. HIV doesn't reproduce inside a mosquito's 346 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 1: body the way yellow fever does. And this research was 347 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly successful, but it came at a cost. James Carroll, 348 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: one of the researchers we mentioned earlier, was infected with 349 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: yellow fever and he almost died. And this is reportedly 350 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: because the mosquito in question had not eaten in about 351 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: three days of them trying to coax it to bite someone, 352 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: and they were afraid that if the mosquito starved to death, 353 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: they were going to lose important data. So in sort 354 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,240 Speaker 1: of an act of desperation, what reportedly happened is that 355 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: James Carroll let it bite him. There's this whole other 356 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: weird thing in my head swirling about the idea of 357 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: trying to keep mosquitoes as pets, almost for medical research, 358 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: and it's very strange to think about. Um. And Jesse 359 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: Lizier was infected with yellow fever, and he in fact 360 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: did die. It's unclear whether this was part of an 361 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: experiment or if this was an accident. Reports are contradictory. 362 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: Some say that he did infect himself on purpose, and 363 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,160 Speaker 1: others say that he was bitten by a mosquito while 364 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 1: working and thought it was a species that did not 365 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 1: carry malaria. Regardless, his work before his death was absolutely 366 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 1: critical to this experiment, and he left notebooks full of accurate, 367 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 1: detailed data when he died, and without these notebooks the 368 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 1: project probably would have failed. It could not have continued 369 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: without his knowledge. Their research did not immediately gain traction. 370 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: Back in the United States. An Italian doctor named Giuseppe 371 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: Cinerelli had theorized that a basilus caused yellow fever, and 372 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: even after this was disproved quite conclusively, he continued to 373 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: insist that his basillas be named as the culprit. And 374 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: this distracted from the real problem. Yeah, and when we 375 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: say conclusively disproved, it involved things like during autopsies of 376 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: people who had definitely died of yellow fever, his bacillus 377 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: was not present and we were like, this is not it. 378 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,320 Speaker 1: But his advocacy for his basillus, which it was called 379 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: his basillus um, really sidetracked things um. However, soon the 380 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: army instituted mosquito control programs and yellow fever rates and 381 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: Havannah plummeted. The United States Army was also soon able 382 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: to get into areas where they previously couldn't because yellow 383 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: fever was just too entrenched and basically trying to send 384 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: troops there would have just caused everyone to get sick 385 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: and die. Uh. An example is that the building of 386 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: the Panama Canal really couldn't have happened without mosquito control 387 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 1: programs to control the spread of yellow fever. Reid came 388 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: back from Cuba in nineteen o one, and he continued 389 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: to lecture on yellow fever. He received honorary degrees from 390 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: Harvard and the University of Michigan. He was named librarian 391 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: of the Surgeon General's Library in November of nineteen o two. 392 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 1: Walter Reid died on November twenty three, nineteen o two, 393 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: after developing parrotnitis, which followed a case of appendicitis, and 394 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,439 Speaker 1: his death came as somewhat of a shock. At least 395 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,919 Speaker 1: the illness is severity came as a shock. His symptoms 396 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: just weren't as serious as would have been expected for 397 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: a case of appendicitis that was advanced as advanced as 398 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: his was, so uh when he became when it became 399 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: clear that he was critically ill, people were really shocked 400 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: by it. A vaccine for yellow feed or was developed 401 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: in the nineties, and as we noted earlier while to read, 402 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: Army Medical Center was named for him and for his work. 403 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 1: I knew very little of him prior to this, so 404 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: I'm glad you picked this one. I had. I remember 405 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,360 Speaker 1: we were driving around on probably Memorial Day, and there 406 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: was a thing about him on public radio and I 407 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: sort of caught the tail end of it and was 408 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 1: just fascinated by the story. Um and then as things happened, 409 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,119 Speaker 1: I didn't think about it again until recently when I 410 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: was trying to come up with an episode topic, and 411 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,679 Speaker 1: then I could not find I have no idea what 412 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: this story was that I heard on NPR. I searched 413 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 1: all kinds of things to try to find it so 414 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: I could listen to the whole thing. If you know 415 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, please email us a link so 416 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: I can hear the whole thing. Um, would you like 417 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 1: to read a listener mail? I would, Uh, this is 418 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: from Carina, and so Corina sent us this male coincidentally 419 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 1: between when we recorded our episode on Sylvia Rivera and 420 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: when that episode came out, and in the Sylvia Rivera 421 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,880 Speaker 1: episode we talk as briefly in a side it's basically 422 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: a mention of an organization called the Young Lords. And 423 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 1: so this was completely a coincidence that this mail happened 424 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: to come in at this point, which is why I 425 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,680 Speaker 1: wanted to read it. And Corina says, Hello, Tracy and Holly, 426 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: huge fan of the show. We keep her company on 427 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 1: her commute to and from work. She says, I'm writing 428 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: because it's the time of year where we officially celebrate 429 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: Latino heritage. Month September fift to October. I am a 430 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: Latina from the Bronx, New York and I have a 431 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,880 Speaker 1: great topic you ladies can talk about, the Young Lords. 432 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to meet one of the New 433 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: York City Young Lords member, Miguel Mickey Melendez, and he 434 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: inspired me beyond words. The Young Lords was an organization 435 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: of activists dedicated to human liberation and the independence of 436 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: Puerto Rico. And that is from UH an organization about 437 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: the Young Lords. They started with the liberation of Puerto 438 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: Rico but left a mark on Latino's and inner cities. 439 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: They were seen as terrors to the police, but as 440 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 1: savior store people in inner cities living in horrible conditions. 441 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy, Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx was 442 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: one of the worst in the city. The building was 443 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: falling apart, children were getting lead poisoning while hospitalized. There 444 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: there were rats in the emergency room. The Young Lords 445 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: and a group called the h r u M Health 446 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: Revolutionary Unity Movement established a ten point health program calling for, 447 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 1: among other things, community worker control, health institutions, lead poisoning 448 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: and anemia testing, and daycare centers. The Young Lords also 449 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: received and reported to the city government hundreds of complaints 450 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: directed the Lincoln Hospital facilities. Since the hospital failed to 451 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 1: respond on the group decided to take stronger measures. That 452 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: the city and the staff were not going to help 453 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: the sick than the Young Lords believed, it was up 454 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 1: to the community to do so. During the early morning 455 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,639 Speaker 1: hours of July fourteenth, nine seventy, the Young Lords and 456 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: a patient worker group called Think Lincoln Committee took over 457 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,200 Speaker 1: Lincoln Hospital. During the twenty four hour takeover, the Young 458 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: Lords ran health programs in a building the hospital was 459 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: not even using. Here, they held TV and lead poison 460 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: detection and set up a daycare that would later be 461 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: put to service. Eventually, the police surrounded the hospital and 462 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,919 Speaker 1: the Young Lords left peacefully. The offensive exposed the terrible 463 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: conditions seen in inner city hospitals. The building Lincoln Hospital 464 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: was in had been condemned by the city twenty years before, 465 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: and nothing had been done to address this problem. The 466 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: group got a promise from then Mayor John Lindsay to 467 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,640 Speaker 1: construct a new hospital on East A hundred and forty 468 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,680 Speaker 1: ninth Street. In the end, the takeover of Lincoln Hospital 469 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: was a victory for the community. It would be great 470 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: if you could talk about this on the show. Thanks Karina, 471 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: And as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to read this 472 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 1: because we mentioned the Young Lords uh and basically a 473 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,880 Speaker 1: sentence in our episode about Sylvia Rivera, but we really 474 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 1: didn't talk about much of their activities or their philosophy 475 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,639 Speaker 1: or anything. It was basically a Puerto Rican nationalist group. 476 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: So um, there is definitely a much broader story about 477 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,800 Speaker 1: uh the Young Lords than just this one story. But 478 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: I wanted to read the just this one story because 479 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: we had not really talked about that in the episode. 480 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: It was kind of aside from the major subject matter. 481 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,360 Speaker 1: And she included show much great information in that email. 482 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like that's like a mini episode on its own. 483 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: She did a really awesome job. So if you would 484 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: like to write to us with other stories about things 485 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: that we mentioned that you somehow have have intuited that 486 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: we are going to mention later, is what happened here? 487 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,239 Speaker 1: Or if you want to tell me what was up 488 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: with this well to read episode that I heard five 489 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 1: minutes of over Memorial Day weekend, You can write to 490 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: us for a history five acid how Stuff Works dot 491 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: com for us, also on Facebook at Facebook dot com 492 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: slash miss in History and on Twitter at miss in History. 493 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: Our tumbler is missed in History dot tumbler dot com, 494 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: and we're also on Pinterest at pinterest dot com slash 495 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: missed in History. 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