Ridgway resident Joan Chismire stands next to the iron lung that saved her motherâs life nearly 80 years ago in this 2019 file photo. The iron lung, saved by a man who found it wasting away in a South Dakota construction yard, will go on display at the Ouray County Ranch History Museum starting Friday and continuing through Oct. 13. Mike Wiggins â Ouray County Plaindealer
Iron lung finds its home in Ridgway
The journey of the Drinker-Collins iron lung began in 1937 with its donation to a hospital in South Dakota, where it helped save the life of a teenager who had contracted polio.
The journey paused for decades. And then it got wild — a tale of a chance discovery, painstaking research and incredible good fortune that led to a man 600 miles from Ridgway picking up the phone and calling the daughter of the woman whose life was saved to let her know he had an artifact she might be interested in.
The ...