Respiratory Therapy

May 15, 2023

Polio patients, iron lung respirators, and…hey, is that Pat Boone??!!

Polio was a terrifying disease, once filling wards at VUMC with paralyzed patients in iron lungs. Vaccines have saved us from all that.

By Wayne Wood
May 15, 2023

I was the last person in an iron lung at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

It was in a storage room. It still worked. For some reason, I was allowed to get in it.

By Wayne Wood
January 13, 2022

Melanie Walker started life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Now she works there helping tiny babies breathe.

“I could be an example that there is a way to get better.”

By Jessica Pasley
December 3, 2021

Troy Hamm says he ‘happened to be in the right place, at the right time’ when he saved a patient’s life. It was anything but chance.

“Troy is a true professional, and his consistent actions and behavior not only make him a front-line hero, but a shining example of our Credo behaviors.”

By Leigh MacMillan