MUSEUM RECEIVES TWO DOZEN ARTIFACTS FROM PITTSBURGH PLANT OF GENERAL MOTORS
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gurney made by the Shampaine Co.

The National Museum of Health and Medicine has received more than two dozen original pieces of medical equipment that were used to provide occupational health treatment in the hospital of the Pittsburgh plant of the General Motors (GM) Corporation in West Mifflin, Pa.

The 1950s-era artifacts will be added to the more than 12,000 objects in the museum’s historical collections. They include:

1. a gurney (7-foot-long) made by the Shampaine Co. of St. Louis that was used until 2002 when it was replaced by a newer model
2. a respirator (3 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet) made by the McKesson Appliance Co. of Toledo, Ohio
3. a white enamel elbow bath with black enamel trim and a removable lid
4. a nearly 4-foot-tall hydrotherapy whirlpool consisting of a white metal tank, piping, and power unit cover, rubber insulated cords and a glass and white metal temperature gauge made by the Ille Electric Corp.

“The operating room table (we are donating) has been used by all of the plant physicians and nurses to treat the more serious medical emergency cases and injuries that occasionally occur onsite, especially those cases that required surgical repair or suturing,” said Dennis Minnicks, R.N., B.S.N., who assisted GM with the donation. “The respirator would have been used, to the best of my knowledge, in lieu of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which did not exist in the 1950s.”

McKesson Appliance Co. respirator

GM has also donated various glass medicine cups, decanters, syringes, funnel, medication bottles, and culture tubes.

“These items are significant additions to our collections documenting the evolution of medical technology, emergency medicine, and industrial medicine,” said Alan Hawk, manager of the museum’s historical collections.

“The changing role of the physician in the 20th century found practice in the industrial setting,” said Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., museum director. When working for industry, physicians had to consider not only how to care for patients when they were sick or injured, but also how to perform a useful physicial examination, which in turn led to increased precision in diagnosis and therapy, both key to advancing health.”

hydrotherapy whirlpool

Built in 1950 as part of the Fisher Body Division of General Motors, the Pittsburgh Plant fabricates sheet metal components for current and past model GM cars and trucks. The facility currently employs more than 650 people. The on-site medical facilities have provided employees with treatment for injuries as well as being a resource for wellness initiatives since the plant opened.

white enamel elbow bath

The historical collection at the National Museum of Health and Medicine documents changes in medical technology since the early 17th century and includes objects ranging in size from a suture needle to a two-ton MRI magnet, such as X-ray equipment, microscopes, surgical instruments, numismatics, and anatomical models. The collection is made available for the education of medical professionals, Department of Defense personnel, historians, and the public through exhibits in the museum, loans to other institutions, and individualized study.