MUSEUM LOANS PROSTHETIC ARM TO NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

The National Museum of Health and Medicine loaned a prosthetic arm to the Richmond National Battlefield Park to be part of their new exhibit "Under the Yellow Flag," which describes the role of medicine in mid-19th century America and Chimborazo, the South's largest hospital during the Civil War. The device is on loan as part of a permanent exhibit of rotating artifacts.

The prosthetic arm was made to replace an amputated arm, and the fingers can move to simulate the movement of a real hand. The device was made shortly after the Civil War and is made of wood, metal, and leather.

More than 200 medical artifacts are on display in "Under the Yellow Flag," including medical uniforms and equipment on loan from the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Va., and other National Park Service sites. The exhibit is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information call 804-226-1981.

"Under the Yellow Flag" also explores the role of women and African Americans who nursed and cared for the wounded and sick soldiers. The exhibit focuses on Naval surgeons, the role of chaplains during the Civil War, surgeons in war, hospitals, pre-Civil War medicine, post-Civil War medicine, and Confederate innovations.

"Visitors may come to our battlefields expecting to hear the military side of the story, but they are also intrigued by the story of the hospital, field surgery, and other aspects of the medical story," said Park Supt. Cynthia MacLeod. "Our goal for the Chimborazo Medical Museum is to bring awareness to this lesser-told medical story."

Chimborazo Medical Museum is one of the 12 Civil War sites protected by Richmond National Battlefield Park. The site is located at the Eastern end of Broad Street in Richmond. During the Civil War, the medical staff treated more than 77,000 patients.

Prosthetics similar to the one loaned to the National Parks Service can be seen at the National Museum of Health and Medicine's permanent exhibit "To Bind Up a Nation's Wounds: Medicine During the Civil War." The exhibit shows Civil War medicine through the eyes of battlefield surgeons and the stories of Union and Confederate sick and wounded. Amputation techniques and tools as well as amputated bones are also on display in the exhibit. The museum has collected prosthetics from each major conflict in America since the Civil War and maintains a collection of original photographs documenting amputee-soldiers in rehabilitation learning to use their prosthetic limbs.