Kenny, Elizabeth (1880-1952), an Australian nurse, developed a method of treating poliomyelitis. Kenny was born on Sept. 20, 1880, in Warialda, New South Wales. She became a nurse in Australia’s bush (remote countryside). One day, an epidemic of poliomyelitis struck, and Kenny could not get medical help. This led her to work out her own method of treating the victims. She found that prompt application of hot woolen packs relieved muscle spasms and usually prevented the patient from becoming permanently disabled.
Sister Kenny, as she was called after she became a head nurse, served as a nurse in the Australian Army during World War I (1914-1918). In 1933, she set up her own clinic in Townsville, Queensland. Her treatment was accepted for use in Australian hospitals by 1939. She lectured and demonstrated the method in the United States in 1940 and secured funds to set up the Elizabeth Kenny Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She wrote many treatises on polio and an autobiography, And They Shall Walk (1943). She died on Nov. 30, 1952.
