Penny Ralles, Polk County

Interviewee: Penny Ralles
Interviewer: Wendy Riggenberg
Date of Interview: 11/30/07
Run Time: Approximately 100M

Cassette
Biographical Data Form
Oral History Release
Transcript

Penny Ralles caught polio in September of 1950. No one can say for sure, but she may have caught it from the contaminated creek water that flowed from a neighbor’s dairy farm behind the house. She was only six years old but she remembers the crowded corridors of Blank. “There were so many kids in this room where I was – the beds were just crammed in there. The nurses barely had room to get in between the beds to take care of us.” Penny was in isolation for approximately twelve weeks with total paralysis from the neck down. She remained at Blank for the next year and a half. She has many memories of the sights and smells of Blank Children’s Hospital, but it is the memory of her unique departure that stands out. Penny recalled, “My mother got into a big fight. I mean an absolute fight. She shoved the nurse – who went flying across the room – because my mother wanted to take me home for the weekend whether this nurse liked it or not. She got me dressed and my dad was waiting downstairs with the car so it was heated and they could just take me from the hospital. I went home and never came back.” Penny believes she remained in the hospital for so long because her parent’s had insurance coverage specifically for polio.