At last the nurse took a soft, wool blanket.she tore it into strips. She put the strips in hot water. Then she wrung them out. She wrapped them around the arms and legs. As the strips cooled,she changed them. The child stopped crying. She relaxed and fell asleep. The treatment worked.
Soon after this, sister Kenny was called to see another girl . This patient had strong stomach pain. Sister Kenny thought it might mean appendicitis. Again she must ask a doctor for help. but she could not leave the girl. And there was no one to send. So she went to the door of the lonely house and called “coo-ee-ee coo-ee-ee,” an Australian call that means “come to me.” she called three times. No answer came.
She went back to look at the girl. The patient still had stomach pain. But now there were symptoms of infantile paralysis too. What if the girl did have appendicitis? when the hot cloths would be the wrong treatment. They might even cause death. But if the patient had infantile paralysis, How Sister Kenny longed for some way to send for help.
Just then there was the sound of a wooden peg tapping outside. When she heard it, the nurse knew that her friend Chief Waddy Mundooee had answered her call. Sitter Kenny had met the aboriginal chief some time before. She had obtained a wooden leg to replace the leg he had lost in an accident. He was thankful for her help. Now he had come to help her.
The chief sent his messenger off with a telegram . In time the messenger off with a telegram. In time the messenger came black with Dr. McDonnell is reply. It said that muscles in the stomach often tightened in infantile paralysis. This meant that the pain was probably not a symptom of appendicitis . Sister Kenny used the hot cloths. Her young patient soon got well.
Some time later sister Kenny saw Dr.McDonnell in person. She told him what she had done. He was shocked. Her treatment went against all that the experts said about the crippling disease.but it had worked! Her patients were walking about, well and strong.
Infantile paralysis is now called polio. In the 1950s vaccines were found to prevent it. But there are found to prevent it. But there are still some cases. And one of the best ways to treat them is the method developed by the young nurse in Australian bush.