An Iron Lung Tribute
As we struggle with COVID’s increasing gore
Recall that we’ve been there before.
Paralytic polio’s effect obscene
Were finally stopped by Salk’s famous vaccine.
As a USC Medical Student in ‘63
I toured the old hospital CD ward
Where row after row of iron lung machines were stored.
Replaced by Bird Ventilators compact and neat
Making the Drinker respirator obsolete
But the iron lung was many a polio victims salvation
Giving life to many across this nation
And while discussing
our current pandemic catastrophe
My friend, retired ED doc Kent Benedict, related to me
A story of a Cal student’s extreme ingenuity.
Where Benedict on a fellowship on Cal’s Cowell Hospital 4th floor
Was attending Ed’s iron lung and more
And assisting his every need
Including satisfying his craving for high quality weed.
So into his mouth Benedict places a joint
Flips the switch which to the inhale cycle points
Then precisely stops the machine for maximal smoke inhale
Until Ed flutters his eyes signaling for a big exhale.
Which brings me simply to say:
With ingenuity where there is a will
There is always a way.
Howard P. Charman, MD 1-17-2021
Coda: The patient, Ed Roberts, was the first wheel chair patient to graduate from UC Berkeley as we learn from googling Ed Roberts and UC Berkeley. He obtained a bachelors degree, a master’s degree and worked for a PhD degree. He helped establish and was the director of the Center for Independent Living (CIL) which spread country wide. He taught at a college. In conjunction with other activists he obtained curb cuts down two main Berkeley streets. Governor Brown appointed him head of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. His activism on behalf of the disadvantaged inspired many, and was instrument in getting passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 among many of his other accomplishments.
The Ed Roberts campus is a universally accessible campus in a BART Transit Center a 3075 Adeline Street, Suite 105, Berkeley, CA 94703 which emphasizes the centrality of architecture and design is important for the disabled….