Shining a light on New Zealand's medical history
Mon May 22 2017 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Shining a light on New Zealand's medical history
22 May 2017
Erna with the Melrose Heart Lung machine
University of Auckland Arts student Erna Battenhaussen is shining a fresh light on some of New Zealand’s most important medical artefacts.
Last summer Erna, who has a BA in Anthropology and Art History, worked at Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) as a University Summer Scholar.
Under the direction of Professor of History, Linda Bryder, she was tasked with researching objects from MOTAT’s collection that could form the beginnings of an online Auckland Medical Museum.
“I chose nine medical items in the collection that were historically important and visually interesting,” says Erna.
Among the most significant was the Melrose Heart Lung Machine, brought to New Zealand by Sir Douglas Robb and Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes, and used in ground-breaking open heart surgery in 1958.
The surgery, which repaired a hole in the heart of an eleven-year old girl, Helen Arnold, was the first of its kind in New Zealand and made headlines around the world.
“The Melrose Heart lung Machine contributes to the understanding of the history of cardiovascular medicine internationally,” says Erna. “Open heart surgery continues to be used in modern medicine and this machine is a valuable learning tool for understanding the history of its treatment.”
She also worked on an iron lung built at Auckland Hospital around 1935 using an electric motor and vacuum pumps from a milking machine. Iron lungs were a common treatment for polio which affected nearly 10,000 individuals in New Zealand between 1915 and 1961.
“Understanding what polio patients went through pre-immunisation puts into perspective the importance of modern developments in medicine and public health,” says Erna.
She has tried to place each object in a wider historical context. For example she studied four electro-cardiographs that range over a 50-year period from a 1920s German model that had a hand crank to a Japanese model built in the 1990s.
A Dutch-manufactured Maxinec incubator included in Erna’s research has proven links to the history at St Vincent’s Home of Compassion in Herne Bay which was run by the Sisters of Compassion, whose founder was Mother Mary Joseph (Suzanne) Aubert.
“Now that its provenance has been more clearly defined it is evident that this machine could have major historic and social significance to Auckland, and New Zealand as a whole,” says Erna. “We are interested to find out more about how this was used and possibly modified during its time at St Vincent’s.”
Erna’s research has also unearthed stories of Kiwi ingenuity such as the Green lane Hospital technicians who deftly altered the Melrose Heart lung machine’s oxygenator which was rotating at too high a speed when it first arrived
Says Dr Bridget Mosley, Registrar of MOTAT’s Collection Inventory, “In-depth research is something we always want to do more of but it can be a luxury for us in our day-to-day work. Supporting learning and development is important to MOTAT and Erna’s research will add to our understanding of the significance of the collection and how we interpret it for visitors, while at the same time giving a young museum professional first-hand work experience.”
Erna has finished her Summer Scholarship and is now employed two days a week at MOTAT while continuing to study for a Masters in Heritage Conservation specialising in Museums and Cultural Heritage.
She is doing on-going research into medical items that will contribute to MOTAT’s wider understanding of its whole health sciences collection.
“I am passionate about this sort of thing,” Erna says. “I really believe in looking to the past to shape the future.”
Concludes Professor Bryder: “The University Summer Scholarships open up some fascinating and valuable opportunities for students.”
End
Editor’s notes
The Melrose Heart Lung machine Erna has researched will feature in the Auckland Medical Museum Trust’s first exhibition, Brave Hearts, a mobile pop-up exhibition where visitors will be part of a journey through New Zealand’s cardio-vascular medical history, past, present and future. The exhibition will be open to the public at MOTAT from 18 August 2017
Contact
Tess Redgrave| Media Relations Advisor
Faculty of Arts
Email: t.redgrave@auckland.ac.nz
Tel: +64 9 373 7599 ext 87383
Tel: +64 9 923 7383
Mobile: +64 (027 562 5868)