Patricia Barrett Moreland, Polk County

Interviewee: Patricia Barrett Moreland
Interviewer: Thomas Sullivan
Date of Interview: 11/14/07
Run Time: Approximately 65M

Cassette
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Relase
Miscellaneous Typescript: “Our Polio Years” and “Christmas on the Ward”
Transcript

Patricia Moreland contracted polio two days after she celebrated her seventh birthday. Her family lived on a farm six miles from the small town of Dedham in west-central Iowa. One night in August, she started running a high fever. When they realized her inability to move her chin to her chest, her parents sought out the help of the local Dedham physician. After examining her, he sent Patricia directly to Carroll where she received her spinal tap and confirmed their worst fears. On August 17, she was admitted to Blank Memorial Children’s Hospital for two weeks of isolation in the Blank basement. “We were not allowed to be with our parents,” Pat recalled. “We could talk to them through the window – and, they would let us stand on things so we could talk to them – but, we could not touch them or hold them. That is awfully hard for a seven year old. I was only a child. Not to have hugs or kisses, particularly when you are ill, feels so bad.”

Patricia overheard the doctors tell her parents that she would never walk again and, like many other survivors, she set out to prove the experts wrong. “I guess I am a real stubborn person because I heard them and I thought, ‘I’ll show you,’ and I did! I walked again and they took me to Minneapolis twice to the national convention of the Sister Kenny Institute and had me walk across the stage and do what I could do to show them how well the regimen worked.” She also found comfort and adventure through reading. “I loved to read. I would read three or four books a week in addition to my schoolwork. Part of the appeal of reading was that I could go into a whole other world – a world where I could run and jump and do things. I think that was partly why I loved to read so much. I still love to read. It is my favorite activity.”