IRON LUNG

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1939, Page 6

IRON LUNG

RECEIVED BY MASTERTON HOSPITAL. LORD NUFFIELD’S GENEROSITY. Bearing the inscription “Both Cabinet Respirator. Presented by Viscount Nuffield,” an “Iron Lung,” was received yesterday by the Wairarapa Hospital Board. The gift is made under the plan by Lord Nuffield to provide every major hospital in the British Empire with an Iron Lung. “The respirator is being installed, and the board’s engineers are carrying out tests. If the necessity arises the lung will be available for immediate use,” stated the Managing-Secretary. Mr Norman Lee this morning. Housed in a special ward, the respirator is a simple, but ingenious piece of machinery. The respirator is actually in two separate parts—a cabinet, in which the patient is placed, and the small motor which operates the respirator. The motor is driven by electricity, the geared motor operating a bellows arrangement, by a shaft, which is adjusted to make the required number of pulsations. The lung is connected to the cabinet, by flexible tubing. and when working an alternate respiratory action is set up in the cabinet. In short the patient in the cabinet is made to breathe. The lung is made to operate by hand, in the event of a power break down. The whole appliance is enclosed in a small compact circular casing. The cabinet is a beautiful piece of workmanship. About six feet in length and attractively painted, the cabinet has several portholes for observation purposes. The patient is slid into the machine on a sponge mattress, and a heavily insulated rubbering fits around the neck, a head rest holds the patient's head up outside the cabinet. A light is provided inside, and by looking in the portholes the patient may be observed. The lung was shipped from England, and was brought freight free by the shipping company. An endeavour is to be made to obtain a refund of the Customs duties paid, by the board. The lung is a very fine addition to the equipment of the Masterton Hospital