Dr. Hildegarde Sinnock and a Case of Polio

The first recorded polio epidemic
in Illinois was in 1916. By 1917, the Quincy newspapers were writing about the
“war” on polio and the “plague” of polio. The Illinois State Board of Health held
a conference in Quincy on February 19, 1917, one of 28 such conferences in
Illinois. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss polio cases and share
information with the public.

Poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis is a
viral disease that attacks the nervous system of children and adults. The
disease could be mild and temporary or it could cripple, paralyze, and kill. Polio
usually spreads person to person. One reason for visiting nurse organizations
beginning at the same time as the epidemic was to get into homes to care for
children with polio and prevent its spread. Over the years treatments were
tried with varying degrees of success. Polio vaccine was not available until
1955.

Our most famous person who had
polio was President Franklin Roosevelt. He contracted the disease in 1921 and
was paralyzed from the waist down. He spent his presidency (1933-1945) in
braces or a wheelchair and went to great lengths to hide his disability. In
1938, he helped found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later
known as the March of Dimes. He tried a variety of therapies including
hydrotherapy in the mineral springs and treatment pools in Warm Springs
Georgia.

President Roosevelt first went to
Warm Springs in 1924. He bought a home
there, known later as the Little White House, and died there in 1945. In 1927
he founded a rehabilitation facility for polio patients, where patients would
live, work, and hopefully regain their health together.

In 1940, Dr. Hildegarde Sinnock had
a family of patients who lived just outside of Quincy on a farm on 48th
Street. The father, Edgar, recounted a story of his mother needing the doctor.
His father drove to 36th and State Streets to the nearest telephone
and called their physician, Dr. Sinnock’s mother, Dr. Melinda Germann. According
to Edgar’s letters to Dr. Sinnock, her mother got out of her buggy and told
Edgar and his sister, “your mother wanted me and here I am.”

On August 13, 1940, Edgar and his
wife brought their son Stanley to Blessing Hospital. They brought their daughter
Iris the next day. Doctors diagnosed polio and the children were quarantined.
After about a week, Dr. Sinnock thought the children should be taken to Warm
Springs as she had exhausted the treatments available locally. Though the rehabilitation
center in Warm Springs was full, Dr. Sinnock contacted a friend who was the
wife of one of President Roosevelt’s cabinet members. She asked the president
to intervene and get the children admitted. He did.

The family needed to decide quickly
if they were going to Warm Springs. They agreed to go and as polio improvement could
be slow, they rented their farm, sold their equipment and livestock and left
for Georgia in a small travel trailer arriving in Warm Springs September 8,
1940. In 1978, the children’s father wrote a letter saying, “Now, Dr.
Hildegarde, it was you who guided us medically, and followed up with a guidance
for these many years. We owe all of this goodness we find here, becoming better
as years go by, to you.”

The family kept a diary in Warm
Springs and referred to it when writing to Dr. Sinnock in the late 1970s. Dr. Sinnock advised them on their trip to
Georgia to drive slowly, keep the children motionless, and what to look for if
their condition worsened. When they arrived, the children were added to the 100
patients lining the halls in addition to the 84 patients in wards.

While their children were in
treatment through 1940 and into 1941, Edgar and his wife helped out in the
facility. Mabel worked in the kitchen and Edgar helped build more patient
rooms. Mabel did personal laundry for some patients every Saturday because the
laundry service was slow and some children did not have enough clothes to wait
for their laundry to return. Edgar would gather up small change, go to the dime
store, and come back with toys for the children.

President Roosevelt came to Warm
Springs every few months for a two week stay. After his treatments, he would
visit the other patients. One Saturday, Edgar was in his son’s ward talking to
the boys about getting the dime store toys. A boy from New York got a dollar
each week from his uncle and had made a list of toys for Edgar to purchase. Roosevelt
came into the ward to visit the boys and asked to see the list. He gave Edgar a
dollar and said, “You pick out some toys you think I will like to pass my
time.” Edgar bought him a mechanical frog that could be wound up and walk
slowly. When you pushed the red bottom on the frog’s back, it would jump causing
great delight in the boy’s ward.

Stanley was released in the spring
of 1941, but Iris stayed nine more months.
Dr. Sinnock advised the family not to return to the harsh climate of
Illinois for several years. She suggested they live in Dr. Melinda Germann’s
winter residence in Miami during the summer until they were able to find a
house. Dr. Melinda asked them to do the yard and house maintenance which led to
a permanent job for Edgar with a landscaping business.

The family never returned to Illinois but
opted for Florida’s warmer climate. They bought 10 acres outside of Miami and
built a house. Stanley eventually recovered the use of his limbs but Iris used
a wheel chair for the rest of her life. Both children graduated from the
University of Miami and had successful careers. When the family came to Quincy
for a visit, they always stopped to see Dr. Sinnock.

Sources

“47 Years Ago in IDPH History.” Illinois Department of
Public Health.

“86 Years Ago in IDPH History.” Illinois Department of
Public Health.

“Paralysis Clinic at Hospital on Wednesday.” Quincy Daily
Journal, April 10, 1923, 3.

“Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.”
Georgia on my Mind.

Sinnock, Dr. Hildegarde. Letters File in BH0048, Blessing
Health System Archive, Quincy, IL.

“War on Polio Reaches Quincy.”

Quincy Daily Whig

, February 2, 1917, 3.

“Will Discuss ‘Polio’ Plague in City Hall.”

Quincy Daily Whig

, February 8, 1917, 3.