LANCASTER, Pa. — Organizers have welcomed the latest addition to the Lancaster Medical Heritage Museum: The once-revolutionary iron lung.
“It’s important to understand where we’ve been to see how far we’ve actually come in regard to medical history and advancements. At the time that this was in use, it was considered the height of medicine,” said Kim Jovinelli, the museum's executive director.
The iron lung was invented to treat patients with polio in the early 1920s.
Dr. John Schrock, former family physician for Lancaster General, said it was the primary form of treatment for decades.
“Every summer was a nightmare during the 30s, 40s, and 50s because of polio. That all changed when the vaccine came,” Schrock recalled.
The model on display was used at Lancaster General Hospital for years, though it’s unknown how many patients it helped.
Its last inspection was in 1987 before it sat in a backroom for over 30 years. The machine was then donated to the museum in the early 2000s and renovated at the start of 2024 by Schrock.
“We wanted it to look usable and [how] it would look on the hospital floor,” Schrock said.
The last known person to have used an iron lung died in Texas earlier in March, according to Jovinelli.
Not many of its kind are still around, and that’s why Jovinelli believes it’s important to preserve medical technologies like it.
“Early medicine is scary. This thing is scary looking," Jovinelli expressed. "But it’s something that was needed and important.”
The museum team posted a video on TikTok shortly after the iron lung arrived at its new home; the video exploded in popularity, garnering over 3 million views and 100,000 likes.
The iron lung remains on display at the museum and serves as a reminder of how the advancements of today can become obsolete tomorrow.
“Things will be here that we know of now,” Jovinelli stated.
The Lancaster Medical Heritage Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.