Have you ever heard of a Tonsil Clinic? I am not making this up. It happened in Arkansas and probably other places. Sixty Pangburn Arkansas students underwent tonsillectomies at their school on Oct 17, 1930!
A most vivid article was published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Dec. 10, 2000. It was so vivid that I saved it. I wish I could publish it but they'd sue me.
The article says, "The school became a hospital for a couple of days. Classrooms became operating rooms; Army cots were brought in; and the auditoriums became the recovery room where (some) patients stayed overnight. Parents cared for their own children following surgery."
One student said in the article, "It seemed like half of Pangburn was there. Several patients swallowed their tongues. It was a mess with all those people hollering, screaming and taking on."
Seven doctors donated their services.
"By today's standards, the Pangburn tonsil clinic of 1930 had some weaknesses....the surgical conditions were primitive and unsanitary. Many guardian angels were busy that day. You just know they didn't have 60 sets of sterile instruments or any way to sterilize them. There was no plumbing or running water. Tonsils were carried out by the bucketful and dumped in the woods back of the schoolhouse. I can imagine the animals of the night who had a feast..."
I guess we've always had popular medical problems. I hardly ever hear of tonsils being removed anymore but it used to be very common. It amazes me that they could have done 60 children! When I was in school, we lined up for a lot of shots but never for a tonsil clinic!
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