Bossierites Help End the Polio Epidemic

Most people know that the March of Dimes is a nonprofit foundation that "leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies." But do you know why this organization was founded? It began as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, to combat polio.

Like many viruses, the poliovirus has existed for centuries, with the first clinical description of the disease appearing in 1789. The first polio epidemic outbreak in the United States occurred in 1894. By 1905, the contagious nature of poliomyelitis was discovered, and a few years later, scientists discovered the disease was caused by a virus.

Most polio victims were children under ten; only one-fifth of all reported cases were in people 15 years of age and older. Seventy-five years ago, the poliovirus, also known as infantile paralysis, was the most feared disease in the U.S. Late summer intensified this fear as it was dubbed "polio season."

Every year at this time, the annual nationwide March of Dimes fundraising campaign is held. The time coincided with President Roosevelt's birthday, and the idea was to show the President that the people were with him in the fight against polio. Across the nation, committees and chapters were formed promoting the fundraiser.

In 1940, the Bossier Parish superintendent of schools, R.V. Kerr, served as chairman of the fundraising drive. Civic groups like the Benton Lions Club sponsored local events. In 1946, Bossier City held its first March of Dimes campaign, which came to close with the President's Birthday Ball, a common feature of the annual fundraiser seen across the nation.

Bossier City March of Dimes drive, c 1946.
James Allen Collection: L043

Bossier City's first campaign exceeded the expectations of those directing the campaign. Different groups of volunteers representing various clubs and organizations were in charge of solicitation each day of the drive. The Bossier City drive contributed about $1700 to the parish March of Dimes fund. Local elementary school children throughout the parish contributed $1153 to the parish fund that year.

The road to a vaccine was long during that time, without the scientific knowledge and technology we have today. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyze or kill over a million people worldwide every year. By the 1950s, polio had become one of the most serious communicable diseases among children in the U.S. Every year Bossierites organized and ran March of Dime drives. Mayor Burgess proclaimed January 1956 as National Polio month.

Through the work of volunteers, money raised by the March of Dimes supported research and education efforts, serving as an alliance between scientists and volunteers. The March of Dimes pioneered the polio vaccine research, making it possible to develop the Salk vaccine. Polio vaccine filed trials sponsored by the March of Dimes in 1954 at select locations nationwide. Bossier Parish was one of four parishes in Louisiana to participate in these trials, dubbed the greatest public health experiment in history.

After successful trials, vaccination clinics were held the following year. Efforts were slowed by vaccine shortages, but by 1957, the annual number of cases was reduced by over 90% following mass immunizations promoted by the March of Dimes. With a safe and effective vaccine, the dedication of health workers, and parents who vaccinate their children on schedule, the poliovirus was eradicated from the United States in 1979.

By: Amy Robertson

The War on Rats

Rats have proven to be prolific human colonizers, repeatedly influencing disasters within human populations. They have leveled civilizations with their epidemics, brought about wide-scale biological extinctions in fragile ecosystems, depleted food resources, and cost governments billions of dollars annually in control.

Throughout history, wherever civilizations form, there have always been nuisances that plagued them. Among these nuisances are rats and mice, which have stood the test of time, and somehow, they manage to survive, despite man's many attempts to eliminate them through countless wars waged against them throughout every nation on earth. Community leaders and public health boards have often promoted these wars. The federal government has also funded them from time to time.

One example of federal funding on the war on rats was in 1967 when the Senate approved a $40 million, two-year authorization under which local governments could wage war on rats. The provision was part of comprehensive public health legislation. With or without federal funding, when communities experience excessive rats in the area, they call on all community members to join the war and call on others for help when necessary.

In 1909, a report in "The Bossier Banner" appeared announcing that "Five thousand American cats have been shipped to Japan to aid in the war on rats. Other shipments are to follow."

In 1917, a suggestion appeared in the local paper of tasking schoolboys in Alden Bridge with killing rats on the school grounds. At that time, they calculated that one rat destroys a cent's worth of property every day.

In 1936, Mayor Mack Phillips of Plain Dealing declared war on the rats of Plain Dealing through a proclamation. The following announcement and the proclamation appeared in "The Plain Dealing Progress" on Oct. 1, 1936.

"Due to a noticeable increase of rodents in Plain Dealing over the past several months, Mayor Mack Phillips has issued a proclamation declaring war on rats and mice here and asking the people of his city to put out rat poison on the same night−the evening of Monday, October 5th.

"Everybody having rats in their house, store, barn, smoke-house or what have you, is urged to participate in this worthwhile movement. Put your poison out on this date and each night thereafter until our town is rid of these destructive pests. There are literally thousands of rats and mice in Plain Dealing at this time, and they MUST DIE. It is up to the individual to do his or her part if we are to be rid of them.

"In our war on rats and mice the mayor suggests that we all use some kind of poison that will not endanger the lives of anything but rats and mice. K.R.O. (Kills Rats Only) is a brand of rat poison that is said to be harmless to anything but rodents. It may be secured at any drug store and most mercantile stores for only 85¢ per can, and is already prepared for putting out."

The previous year, Shreveport waged war on rats. During their efforts, the city's board of health reported the following:

 "Five hundred seventy-nine pounds of red squill−a poison fatal only to rats−was mixed with 4,372 pounds of hamburger meat, 3,157 pounds of oatmeal and 1,441, pounds of corn meal and distributed at 20,816 places, of which approximately 20,000 were residences."

"The work required 25 working days, on each of which approximately 60 men were employed. Total cost of materials was $1,449.31. Total cost of labor was $3,500. Men were employed through the E.R.A."

At that time, government agencies estimated that rat campaigns of this magnitude were only eighty percent effective and required repetition due to the high reproduction rate among rodents.

By: Amy Robertson

Louisiana's Health Exhibit Train

The Louisiana Health Exhibit Train in Plain Dealing c. 1911. Bryce Turnley Collection: 1997.062.171.

In 1910 Dr. Oscar Dowling, a prominent oculist in Shreveport, became the president of the Louisiana State Board of Health and instituted a massive campaign on public health reform. In an article in the Times-Democrat, Sep. 2,1910, Dowling was quoted as saying, “I shall try to make my administration of the affairs of the State Board of Health as efficient as possible. By means of an educational campaign, I hope to arouse a deeper and more popular interest in health matters the State over.”

He set out to teach every community in the state about personal hygiene, sanitation, mosquito control, and disease prevention. He assembled a small team of lecturers and assistants that traveled with him on the health exhibit train, which consisted of three cars; two 75-foot cars for exhibits and a Pullman car for living quarters. The Queen and Crescent Railway Company provided the train.

The health exhibit train debuted on Nov. 1, 1910, at the State Fair in Shreveport, where Dr. Dowling invited all physicians, dentists, and representatives of the press to be special guests of his “gospel of health on wheels.” When the fair was over, the train was parked at the Market Street crossing for its\ first public viewing. According to Henry Oyen, “Every city, town or village – 256 in all – of more than 250 inhabitants was visited, inspected and lectured. Where the railroads didn’t run Dowling went in motor cars or carriages. On the narrow-gauge tracks hemounted a railway hand car and pumped himself over the line. Where other methods of transportation failed he walked; in the bayou parishes launches and rowboats were called into service.”

An article in the Shreveport Journal, Jan. 7, 1911, states that one of the exhibits “tells a story of prevention of disease. Arranged on a table in the center of the room are twenty glass jars. In these are sections of the human form, not of wax or composition, but actual specimens. These sections, which have been prepared by Dr. Edmond Souchon, show the progress of tuberculosis in various stages of development. Set up along the sides of the car are transparent views prepared from photographs taken by Dr. P. T. Talbot on his recent tour of inspection of the state. There is also an interesting exhibit furnished by the Louisiana Anti-tuberculosis League. A model of a sanitary closet constructed according to the plans of Dr. Charles Wardell Stiles, the noted hookworm expert, is also on exhibition.

“Constructed according to the plans furnished by the United States department of agriculture is the framework of a model dairy in miniature. Some interesting charts prepared by Dr. Gustave Mann of Tulane, show the food values of various food exhibits. There are microscopes and other aparati, milk coolers, pails, aerators, and model school furniture of the latest design. … There is also an exhibit of bacilli cultures prepared by Dr. Jones, showing the effect of fly contamination. An interesting pathological exhibit of preventable diseases prepared by Dr. Charles W. Duval, by courtesy of Tulane University, is also in the car. Dr. William Ernest Walker’s oral hygiene exhibit attracting much attention. Additional exhibits on blindness and milk appliances have been recently added. Quantities of literature, consisting of cards, banners, etc., calling attention to the evil of flies and spitting, and also containing statistics on various diseases, are distributed from the car.

“The daily program covers a full day’s work. The car is open from 8 o’clock in the morning until 10 and sometimes 11 o’clock at night. In the mornings Miss Morris and Dr. Porter visit and inspect the schools and talk to the children. Miss Morris also meets the ladies and organizes school improvement and civic leagues. The doctors make the sanitary inspections of the towns. At night illustrated lectures, slides and moving pictures are given. These evening entertainments are free and a cordial invitation is extended to the people in the surrounding country, as well as those in town, to attend the meetings.”

In 1911, Dr. Dowling received an urgent invitation from California to bring the health train to them, which he obliged, presenting his health exhibit train at the American Medical Society Convention, making stops along the way. The popularity and effectiveness of the health train kept it going in Louisiana for well over a decade, and this method of educating citizens and improving public health quickly became adopted by other states.

Before going to California, the health exhibit train completed its first state tour and stopped in Plain Dealing in May of 1911.

By: Amy Robertson