FROM MY WINDOW...: CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM - PART 1

WHAT'S ON AT THE MUSEUM - Part 1

WAR AND MEDICINE

From the battlefield to rehabilitation, War and Medicine explores the uneasy and evolving relationship between warfare and the medical profession.

War inflicts terrible physical and mental injuries; medical practitioners try to save lives, manage disease, and rehabilitate the wounded.

Exploring over 150 years, from the Crimean War to contemporary conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Through hundreds of powerful artifacts and striking images, War and Medicine will highlight the personal experiences of medical practitioners and their patients in war.

War inflicts terrible physical and mental injuries. Medical practitioners aim to reduce suffering, manage disease, and rehabilitate the wounded. The relationship between warfare and the medical profession over the past 150 years is an evolving and frequently uneasy one.

Military Medicine Before 1850

Military forces have required medical support for as long as there have been wars. Yet for much of history, soldiers had little access to effective medical care.

Malaria - Carrying mosquitoes have destroyed armies since antiquity and, despiste the introduction of preventive drugs, still threaten militar forces. \malaria remains the world's most common cause of death from infectious disease.

Entering the Modern Age

Major medical disasters in 19th-century warfare provoked a search for better methods to prevent disease and treat the wounded.

In 1863, Private P. Larkin was injury by artillery shrapnel in his right foot, which doctors amputed at the ankle. Soon after the opreration, his leg swelled as the bone became severely infected and pus discharged from the skin. Another amputation did not cure the infection. After the war, Larkin was forced out of work because of chronic pain and the smellfrom his leg, which sickened is co-workers. It was not until 1879, some 16 years after his injury, that surgeond finally removed his diseased leg below the knee.

Severed LimbsA military doctor in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865) photographed this pile of soldiers' limbs that had been surgically amputated.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)Newspaper accounts of disastrous British medical care and losses to disease in Crimea in 1854 sparked a public outcry. The British War Office responded by sending Florence Nightingale, a nurse, to oversee reforms to hospital sanitation and patient care. She instituted sweeping changes to reduce unnecessary deaths, and is widely considered the founder of modern nursing and patient care.

FIRST AID

Wounded labels

Mobile X-Ray Machine: First developed in 1895, the British used heavy X-ray machines in their military hospitals during the South African War (1899-1902). By the first World War, in 1914, doctors used lighter models closer to the front to locate fractures, bullets, and shell fragments in sildiers. German forces use this mobile X-ray machine during Second World War.

Blood Transfusion Kit & Serum

Notice of Injury:

During the First World War, mail to and from the front was subject to censorship to ensure the security of sensitive of vital information. This simple form gave wonded soldiers a way to informe loved ones about the nature and extent of their injuries.

Military Medicine in Modern Wars

During 20th century conflicts, all modern militaries refined medical practices to better manage disease, treat the wounded promptly and effectively, and maintain the health and fitness of military personnel.

Bodies Wounded

War inflicts traumatic injuries on the body that kill, disfigure, or disable. Medical practitioners struggle to cope with complex wounds created by the destructive power of modern weapons.

War has devastating effects on the body. High-velocity bullets, whirling shrapnel, concussive blasts, and burning fuel create
life-threatening, often disfiguring, injuries. Diseases pose an equal risk to individuals and to entire fighting forces. Medical practitioners care for the wounded, return them to service, or help them live with their injuries.

Using a "Guinea Pig" tail for nose transplant

Bodies Rehabilitated

Traumatic wounds change lives forever, and no one recovers without help. Medical practitioners train survivors to adapt and live with their injuries. In the aftermath of war, the injured may struggle to find a place in civilian society. In turn, societies define and redefine their responsibility to support veterans' physical and psychological recovery. These efforts are not always successful, with political and personal consequences for veterans, their families, and society as a whole.

Marine Wedding:

United States Marine Corps Sergent Ty Ziegel suffered multiple life-threatening injuries when a suicide bomber attacked his convoy in Iraq. The blast severed his left arm below thw elbow ans shattered his skull, which had to be reconstructed with a plastic plate. Disfiguring burns left him almost unrecognizable, and he was blinded in oZiegel and his wife divorced in 2007.ne eye. He was released from hospital after 19 operations. Photographer Nina Berman chronicled his recovery and marraige in 2006.

Bodies Infected

Disease poses a risk to the health and effectiveness of fighting forces and the civilian populations with which they interact.

Mold of an Intestine Affected by Cholera

Cholera is a serious bacterial infection of the digestive tract transmitted through contaminated food and water. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. Without treatment, the majority of those infected die. More soldiers died from cholera than from combat during the Crimean War (1854-1856).