Living with Polio: The Epidemic and Its Survivors (review)

The fiftieth anniversary of the development of the Salk vaccine against polio has prompted the publication of several first-rate books on a disease that affected and often disabled both children and adults. Accounts of the disease and of the race to find effective prevention have been the focus of these recent works. Wilson's monograph on the subject, however, has a unique perspective in that it presents the polio patient's experience and viewpoint. Focusing on the period from 1930 to 1960, the author lets the voices of the victims speak through this work. He provides the reader with a more complete story of the experience of the disease from the onset of symptoms and diagnosis through rehabilitation and late effects. A work for historians, health care providers, as well as the general reader, Living with Polio is also an exciting and compelling read. Using the testimonials of over one hundred patients with polio, Wilson follows the medical, physical, and emotional experiences of a generation of children and adults who struggled with both an acute and chronic disease. Comprehensive in its narrative and delving into many aspects of treatment, the book nevertheless is always about the person's experience of illness and recovery.

Wilson divides his work into sections on acute illness, life on the wards, the rehabilitation process, and adjustments at home. He explores patient narratives, health care providers' insights, and family accounts of polio patients' reactions and management over a time period ranging from one year to decades. Through these lenses, we view the stories of acute disease and treatment on hospital wards and polio centers. Also included are individuals' experiences with staff and their re-entry into their communities. Many patients' accounts also detail the often complicated and painful individual struggles with treatments and therapies. Some of these regimes of exercises took up nearly every waking hour of the recuperating patient. Wilson thoroughly examines a variety of hospitals and rehabilitation centers through patient accounts to provide the fullest medical, social, and geographic story of the polio experience in the mid-twentieth century America.

Through the analysis in this story, Wilson is careful to include and examine the polio patient's differing experiences based on age. These insights give a particularly valuable dimension to the book. Children coping with polio faced an entirely different set of challenges as they fought back from the disease. More children than adults were never able to be weaned from iron lungs and faced lives in health or rehabilitation facilities. Returning to family and school and gaining as much independence as possible were the short-term goals of most child victims. Adult women and men, however, faced the responsibilities of providing income and support for their families. Loss of physical independence and sexual function were among the challenges they often encountered. Wilson explains in detail the psychological and social impact of the aftermath of the disease and the emotional stages through which most victims moved. Although many polio patients made an almost entire "recovery," Wilson analyzes the varieties and degrees of recovery that victims experienced.

According to Wilson, race, class, and geography were also key factors in access to quality care, particularly in polio rehabilitation. High-quality rehabilitation centers were few and far between. Although the famous and cutting-edge Warm Springs rehabilitation facility in Georgia benefited many persons with polio, it was impossible for most patients to afford this type of first-rate care, either at Warm Springs or at other facilities. Also, Warm Springs was for whites only, although there were discussions about a segregated facility on the premises, which did not come to fruition.

Wilson also explores the issues of rehabilitation and the then relatively new fields of physical and occupational therapy in this era. He follows the patients' experiences as they struggled physically and emotionally to adjust to often significantly changed lives, making adjustments to crutches, braces, and wheelchairs. A thorough discussion of the place of the polio...