PHYSICIANS ON THE FRONT LINE
tracheotomy tube was also a high priority.
I suspect the tracheotomy was the real savior in the care of polio
patients with breathing involvement in toto. These principles were
especially important on overseas flights where flying time alone
was 30 hours Germany to Seattle, Wash., and 37 hours total Tokyo
to Chicago. Earlier literature seemed to indicate a reluctance to
perform tracheotomy.
By 1953, no civilian air transportation service was willing to
undertake the expense of providing the movement of polio patients.
At the same time, we recognized the need to transfer patients quickly
to a center for care where trained personnel and equipment were
available. The number of requests during this time to the Continental
Division of MATS had reached more than 50 per year.
By 1956, new cases of polio had ceased in the United States, but
the Salk vaccine had not reached overseas. The first few moves I made
were moving civilian patients from community hospitals to medical
centers and once from Tuscaloosa, Ala., back home to Minneapolis
when a patient decompensated on a family trip to Florida.
The first flight overseas was to Benghazi, Libya to get a mission-
ary surgeon, Dr. Roy Saxton Cornell, who was in a British Army
hospital. He had gone to Libya to establish a missionary hospital
and contracted polio with respiratory arrest. The British had a tank
division there because President Nasser of Egypt had seized the
Suez Canal. We moved him by way of the USAF Wiesbaden Hos-
pital for an overnight rest to King County Hospital in Seattle, the
major teaching hospital of the University of Washington. This was
an example of the Air Force’s ability to perform a priceless service
for an American citizen. Here is an excerpt from the letter written
by Dr. William Wagner of the Baghdad Hospital in Benghazi after
the move through the General Conference of the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church:
“It would be hard to describe to you the overwhelming feeling of
gratitude that came to us as we witnessed the evacuation team of the
American Air Force arrive here and immediately commence their
preparation of Dr. Cornell for his long journey home. The serious
problems we had anticipated were solved quickly by this experienced
team with their excellent equipment.”
“America always goes after her own.”
I had the good fortune to talk to Dr. Cornell’s son, Kendal, an
attorney in California. Dr. Cornell survived 21 years, but he forever
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