The Forgotten Carnival Sideshow That Saved Countless Babies' Lives
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- If you were to visit New York’s Coney Island in the early 20th Century, you would have found no shortage wonderful amusements to occupy your time. You could swim in the ocean, enjoy an ice cream or a hot dog, or brave the death-defying mechanical rides of the island’s three giant amusement parks. If you were feeling more adventurous, you could take in such spectacles as a Boer War battle reenactment starring a thousand soldiers, a burning building being extinguished by firefighters, reenactments of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the 1889 Jonestown Flood, or sideshow attractions like Lilliputia, a village inhabited entirely by little people. But amid this “anything goes” carnival atmosphere, one attraction would have seemed rather out of place. For a 25-cent admission fee, you could enter a sterile room attended by white-gowned nurses, in which dozens of tiny premature babies, weighing only a pound or two, lay swaddled inside glass-doored incubators. This strange exhibit was among the most popular on the island, drawing thousands of visitors every day to witness this miracle of modern medicine. But this was not some crass parody or even an advertisement for New York City hospitals; incredibly, for nearly half the Twentieth Century the Incubator Exhibit at Coney Island was among the only dedicated neonatal care facilities in the United States, taking in thousands of desperate cases that no other hospital could care for. This strange combination of hospital ward and carnival sideshow was the life’s work of a mysterious German immigrant named Dr. Martin Couney, who for nearly fifty years defied the Medical Establishment and helped give thousands of premature infants a fighting chance at life.
A sideshow man had a 85% of preemies living, charged not one penny to the families and thought any premature child should have a fighting chance at life. Such a wonderful person, a true visionary.
Aztecs had something like a 75% success rate for brain surgery while European doctors were still splitting skulls and removing brains to salt away "spirits", which naturally had a 100% rate of death. Arabian doctors were using poultices to treat abscesses while the European lot were cutting off whole limbs over a boil. It's not hard to imagine good medicine being primitive when you consider how much of it started as "witchcraft" because most folks couldn't figure out how to not die from simple things. It was the condemnation of good medicine by bad science and religious zealotry that dragged down medicine to where it is now, with so many passing on actual healing hands to take false hopes as treatment. One doesn't *NEED* a college education to realize a lack and formulate a possible solution. This man did his homework, used a little sense, refused to bend to accepted suffering, and achieved something so great because his heart was in the right place, basically the opposite of Facebook culture.
@@zerosumgame5700 i am not sure why the first 2/3 of your comment has nothing to do with the video, because this is about an era where people started actually being good doctors and inventing stuff.
@@zitzak2794 I'm saying that the doctors who were saying that it was fine to let babies die when options existed are worse than stone age brain surgeons, Modern *western* medicine might have ended up in a relatively good place, but it started from the same pompous jackasses who thought it was still the dark ages in Europe. European medicine was fatal garbage for centuries, and we inherited that, while other people's, even less advanced ones, had better medicine and surgical techniques.
In other words, at the time, any random jackass could have been a better doctor than most doctors, given the disturbingly blasé way they dealt with death. We got good by recognizing the foolishness of that way of thinking, and education and technology improved by leap and bounds because the advancements and concerns by non-doctors were eventually vetted.
@@zerosumgame5700 ah now i get what it has to do with this video, its just that doctors were dumb jackasses that felt better when the were really not
Yep ❤️❤️❤️❤️
A close family friend is one of those side-show babies. At 81 now, she’s lived a healthy life.
Man, you gotta do an interview with her 😵😵😵😵😵
I shed a tear of joy at reading this comment
That’s beautiful. Please do have someone interview her. That would be amazing.
Yes, please! If she would be willing and/or able, I'd absolutely love to interview her for a potential historical fiction novel I'm thinking of writing. If she is unable or unwilling to speak about her experience, I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with someone else who knows her story. :) Please reply here if that's something she or someone else would be interested in! Blessings! :)
@@saraharnold2300 I will ask her.
My uncle was born in 1928 prematurely. He weighed less than two pounds. His parents were sent home and told to keep him comfortable, as death would occur within 48 hours. My grandmother ignored that "advice" and kept him in a shoe box for the first couple months, and fed him with an eye dropper at first. He lived to age 71, having served in the US Navy for 46 years and retiring as a Master Chief Radioman.
Hats off to your granny! Sometimes doctors don't know everything.
Almost the same for my grandma, she was born in 1929 and she was also premature. The doctor came by the day after she was born and told my great grandma to keep her comfortable since she likely wouldnt survive. G-Grandma put her in a dresser drawer in front of her wood stove surrounded by pans of hot water wrapped in blankets. She fed her every few hours around the clock. Growing up, grandma was the only child she'd show any outward affection to (g-grandma was a very stern woman but loving in her own way) by rocking her to sleep at night.
My mom's father weighed less than 2 pounds when he was born in the US in 1925. His mother swaddled him with a hot water bottle in a dresser drawer and fed him with an eye dropper too! He fought in WWII, retired as a Navy machinist, and lived to be 78. Incredibly, my father's mother weighed 1kg when she was born in France in 1924. Her mother kept her in a shoe box until she was big enough for a bassinet. She served in the French resistance against the Germans, wrote a book about her experiences, and lived to be 69. They were wonderfully loving grandparents to me. I love that there was basically an entire cohort of tiny babies who were so loved and cared for that they beat the odds!
💙
My mother in law was so tiny when born her head fit into one of those old fashioned tea cups. She was born at home so no weight available or gestation. She was also kept in a shoe box for the first couple months.
My dad would not have been considered a Preemie at this hospital, but he was born in 1930 at the start of the depression and weight about 3 lbs. The dr. told his parents to take him home because he was not going to live and they did not need to run up a hospital bill. His maternal grandmother took over. She swaddled him, put him in a basket by the wood cook stove and fed him Eagle Brand Condensed Milk every every hour (and I mean, every hour). He lived to be 85, had 2 daughters, 4 grand kids, and 4 great grand-children, so I guess all her efforts worked. :o).
My Great Grandmother did the same thing with her last baby. He slept in a drawer, though. He also lived a very happy life and he was loved by everyone. I think your dad and my uncle were very lucky.
People had pretty good ways of trying to care for preemies for a long time, but it was hard. My great-great grandmother had twins, who were greatly premature. I don´t know by how much but my grandmother said they were described as being the size of old fashioned wooden clothes pins. She kept them alive for over a week by keeping them in the wood stove - door open - on low and wrapping them in unspun cotton. They died of what sounds like pneumonia, due to under developed lungs. At the time, the folks in their woods thought she was some kind of "wise woman" for keeping them alive so long.
Mothers knew.
Grandma rocked!!!
@@raquellofstedt9713 she rocked!! And was a very wise woman... ❤
The rest of the world: Ah! The babies are too small, they’ll never make it.
Dr Martin Couney: Gimme those tiny babies!!!
I'm a nicu nurse! And this guy is an absolute legend in our world! Neonatal medicine has come such a long way! This ans JFKs infants death really jump started neonatology
I am one of millions of mommies who are so thankful for the work you and all those in neonatology have done. 😘😘
I am grateful to NICU nurses as well! At 12 days old my youngest son was diagnosed with viral meningitis. He is now a healthy, happy 24 year old man, because of the NICU doctors and nurses in Boston. Thanks and eternal appreciation for everything you do.
I still remember the news coverage of the president’s preemie son and how the nation mourned this tiny male infant’s death. I was only 12 years old, so I did not yet know that I had been a preemie too. This technology did save me and I became a hospital maternity nurse in the early 1970s. It would have been so interesting if there was some recorded data from this worthwhile ‘experiment’.
💙 Awee a Big thank you, my daughter got stuck during birth & was C-Section at 36 weeks.
She had seizures no one knew what caused it 🙄
None the less she was 1 of the 1st in our area to use the table Incubator.
She is 19 now, A freshman in college.
I, too am eternally grateful to the nicu nurses, my son was premature. Today he’s a healthy happily married man of 29 with a beautiful 3 year old daughter and a new son on the way. The care and dedication of these nurses gave us the chance to have our family.
the fact that parents still go into medical debt to care for their preemies in america today should be a bigger condemnation of our system
Medicine isn't free. Drugs cost money, Machines cost money, and proper training for professional personnel takes money. People deserve access to medical care, even if they can't pay up front, but people should still pay for the services they use.
@@ghosturiel No there should be some things that a society should be ready to take on. If the money you give to the government is used for war instead of medical aid, then something is wrong with it. Who could a war be more of public interest then healthy citicens?
@@ghosturiel Firetrucks cost money. 911 operators cost money. Judges and public defense lawyers and their educations cost money. There are some things that need to be paid for by taxes, and it is clear that medicine is one of them.
@@ghosturiel You're right, medicine isn't free. But there are different possibilities of paying for them. I live in Austria and if you're sick, you go to the doctor. You have an accident, you're taken to hospital and receive whatever care you need.
NICU treatment is some of the most expensive medical care out there.
The incubators are also used to save babies that had lung injuries during the birthing process. I am one such person.
Same. I was born so quickly, I still had fluid in my lungs, so I was in the NICU for a couple of hours
Glad yall made it
I provided care at end of life for a 90+ year old lady.. One of the greatest souirces of pain Was the memory of having a premie, for whom tjere was no hope. She said the doctor took the baby, and the baby died in the night. She never even got the chance to hold her. Dr coney spared thousands that agony. Sounds like a hero to me.
What a cruel world some people created when they decided that some weren’t “worthy” of saving. But thank you for not being one of those people
😭😭😭
A lot of young women from that era were also told that their babies had died and given no chance to see them, when actually the hospitals stole the babies and adopted them out
@@user-ii7qv5ij1h Could you point me to some information about that?
I love that this guy was a Jew, who would have known that his people too were on the eugenics hit list too, but he just decided that instead of using human beings purely for show, as we are so used to seeing with circuses, he would resist eugenics ideology by helping these most helpless of people survive their early births and harness the circus, of all things, to do it. I can't imagine how medically trained people must have felt seeing this sideshow guy out of nowhere and then realizing "No, wait-- This is for real. This is actually working." I feel like this enterprising character deserves his own biopic of documentary. He must have been a single-minded, peculiar nut to see how much good he could do and just go for it wholeheartedly without any medical training.
thank you for this comment, which added another layer of context and heroism to the story.
The worst acts of eugenics against Jews came long after his incubator shows, but anti-semitism was already rampant when he was young.
@@evilsharkey8954 You see the seeds of those acts well before then--and coming from the US, which was in many ways the leader of the movement. There's a concerning number of laws that survived decades later, some of which still exist, which came from that movement.
He is in a documentary about medical devices
Abortion is murder, eugenics is about murdering people who you believe are not worthy of life
Margaret Sanger used black preachers to spread abortion in black neighborhoods... she was a racist... I believe we have killed 61 million people in the womb
Coney was right! Hugging and kissing the babies _would_ help them thrive! And as far as cleanliness is concerned, these babies were breastfed and thus getting the advantage of these wet nurses' immune elements. Just like if they were the nurses' own babies.
Yes! I went to visit my premature niece in the NICU, there were posters everywhere promoting breastfeeding and holding the baby to your bare skin with private rooms for the moms and dads.
My twins were premature and when they were 2 days old one was having trouble with his breathing and irregular heartbeat.
The nurse hade me hold him skin to skin and his numbers went back to normal in minutes.
100% sterility is how you get allergies.
@@Amy-si8gq That's an irresponsible exaggeration. There are a lot of potential causes of allergies, but since members of the same families can have different allergies and differing intensities of their allergic responses, there's obviously a strong genetic component. The idea that indiscriminate exposure to germs = healthy immune system is a misinterpretation of the hygiene hypothesis, which is actually talking about specific parasites and gut flora that humans evolved to tolerate, not random germs you find in dirt or on countertops.
_"The term "hygiene hypothesis" has been described as a misnomer because people incorrectly interpret it as referring to personal cleanliness. Reducing personal hygiene, such as not washing hands before eating, is expected to simply increase the risk of infection without having any impact on allergies or immune disorders. Hygiene is essential for protecting vulnerable populations such as the elderly from infections, preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance, and for combating emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola or COVID-19. The hygiene hypothesis does not suggest that having more infections during childhood would be an overall benefit."_
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
Absolutely, the importance of human touche is paramount.
My grandmother was a Couny baby. I wouldn't be here with him.
Wow! I had no idea, thank you so much. Those eugenicists can stuff it. My energetic, gregarious, powerhouse mother was born in a Catholic hospital in 1921. She was two months premature and weighed three pounds. The nuns kept her alive in a shoebox packed with cotton. Two years later my grandmother ran into an acquaintance on the street. After answering many questions Grandmother said, "You've asked me about everything except Loramae." The woman stared at her and said, "You mean she lived?"
The eugenicists are still around and still active. They just changed the wording of what they do and kind of went into hiding. Many are university professors and scientists. Anyone who doubts me should do some research into this. Pretty eye opening.
@@erad67 Yeah, they're called racists, especially the far right, though there are plenty across the political spectrum. I don't know why you're singling out professors and scientists; it's not like it's more common among them than among politicians, housewives, and preachers. To them, anyone disabled, gay, poor, not white, or not Christian should be culled (or at least so severely economically hobbled that they die out or flee the country).
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/25/ice-is-accused-sterilizing-detainees-that-echoes-uss-long-history-forced-sterilization/
publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40985-017-0060-9
www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/17/eugenics-is-trending-thats-problem/
Theoretically, eugenics doesn't have to be a tool for discrimination and abuse. With advances in genetic testing and gene therapy, we could do a lot of good by reducing inherited diseases and even improving the human genome. However, it's dangerously tempting to use eugenics as an excuse to commit genocide.
@@pendlera2959 I would be considered both far right and racist.
This does Not stop me from LOVING Jews, Blacks and other Non-Whites.
The fact is that different races have different traits (good and bad).
Selective breeding of humans is NOT inherently evil any more and selective breeding of any other non-human animal.
Eugenics doesn't even mean genocide.
It means selective breeding.
How this is accomplished MAY include genocide...or sterilization... or Strong incentives NOT to breed; but Instead adopt orphans.
Eugenics is NO different than selective breeding of non- human animals.
Further, it is NOT only silly to think that our differences are only skin deep it is FOOLISH, UNETHICAL, and INSULTING. Even as newborns, there are distinct, predictable and easy to recognize differences.
Humans are no different than any other domestic animal. Just as there are different breeds of dog, cat, sheep, goat, duck, chicken... there are different breeds of human. We are not even all comprised of the same species; so we cannot be all the same race.
Mongoloids have thick tough skin but fine fragile nerves. Caucasians have thin delicate skin but Thick and tough nerves. A surgeon would be foolish to not know this.
For example: Sub-Saharan Africans ( who have zero mix with even Northern Africans ) do NOT have any Neanderthal DNA mixed into their DNA, but Most Caucasians and some Mongoloids do. Sub-Saharan Africans have Cro-magnon DNA added to their Homosapien DNA, which Caucasian and Mongoloids Do NOT. Therefore the different breeds of human all have fundamental generic differences that go well beyond what natural selection, cultural/ religious and esthetics would select for.
This is FANTASTIC AND GOOD.
Try sounding less like shallow, narrowminded and uneducated bigot and hate monger and maybe you will be better recieved.
That is a wonderful story! A shoebox and some cotton... I’m looking at one of my shoeboxes now, and I can’t imagine fitting a baby in there! :)
@@lunaflamed This is an unusually well written response to the concept of racial genetics and Eugenics policy, and I'm one who ponders these matters, so no judgement from me, even though I think classic methodology is often inhumane and bigoted by itself.
My position is much less categorical, though, and I think that's where your response fails a little. The certainty of things being a certain way because of something as broad as continent-spanning peoples can't do justice to individual tribes and small countries. I'm more inclined to believe things like Koreans being a stubborn group because they lived in a militarily advantageous area, with mountains to the north, and ocean to the south. It makes sense that after thousands of years of people attempting to occupy them for an advantage, the only ones left were too stubborn to die or leave, giving them a cultural genetic impact. That's not even my idea, I knew a Korean that was adopted, and was raised far from that culture, but recognized the stubborn behaviour in herself, which she studied and pondered before meeting me.
My own studies have left me thinking that the idea of genetic superiority or purity is a weakness, in itself. Native American cultures were crafted by the versions of humans that came from Africa, through the Middle East, surviving great heat and little water. Then it was the Asian continent, with many mountains spread across and difficult food sourcing, considered unpassable by effort alone due to risk. After that, it was the land bridge made of ice between Russia and North America, the literal opposite of where base humans came to be, meaning that the group that survived the initial transfer across continents had eventually gone through versions that survived heat, cold, exhaustion, hunger, and thirst. Having strong, healthy bodies and being of solid wit, they didn't advance their cultural technologies beyond what little support they needed, and were better suited for living *with* their environment, a lesson we would do well to learn in the modern era. The wisdom of existing in such a way was certainly profound, but the lack of need resulted in a lack of technological development, which, combined with disease from the foreign settlers, left them at a terrible *disadvantage* when it came to defending their claim. Basically, if all you ever needed to get food was a couple of sticks and some string, then there wouldn't be a need to develop any further. Exceeding weakness is the prime motivation for development, and the Native American cultures were largely above such needs. As a whole continent concept, I think it holds some water, but there would still be Warlike or Forager tribes, meaning that I couldn't even begin to quantify that as a specific set of traits for a race, but more like a general foundational range to develop from.
I can comfortably speak my position from the concept that if everyone was the same, we'd all have the same problems and the same lack of solutions. Variety is hugely important to Human dominance of Earth, because different perspectives and abilities make for more opportunities to solve unusual problems. I *do not* believe that we are so different as to be considered separate species, as we can still interbreed without generating sterile children, unlike Mules and Tigons. I do, however, believe that any group of people who settle an area will eventually be *settled* by their area, unless they engage in a lot of trade or are a trade route, or if they are prone to expansion or being expanded into. If nothing changes, then that group will slowly adapt to their circumstance at a genetic level. There isn't a true set of superior/inferior genes, there are only superior circumstances for individual traits. No successful peoples have been able to handle everything with just one set of skills.
My father was an incubator baby in the Chicago World’s Fair 1934
Parents of preemies never forgot about this. My son is alive because of this sideshow. I'll be forever thankful to the freaks of this world for pushing what is possible.
A better name would be the special people
You don't look like you are 80ish years old in your Videos.
@@lisalisaa1806 I think they mean they're thankful for the invention of the NICU. Which is what this video appears to be about.
@@PikaChu-eb9qi
Not really. Because it sounds like handicapped. Not any shame at all, just the wrong impression.
Freaks took pride in their moniker, my great-great grandmother was a psychic back in the late 1800's in shows and carnivals. My grandmother could remember her referring to herself as proud freak and there was never such friendships as she made in her 'freakshow' days. Nowadays ofcourse we would use more appropriate terms such as 'additionally needed'. Even special needs carries a negative connotation to some degree. We must keep in mind what the era time terms used and how we have progressed or else it may have been for naught xxx
My youngest child was born at 24 weeks, he weighed 1 pound 12 oz. He's 18 months old now and now he's officially on the same growth and development charts for normal children his age. I appreciate this video more than words can say.
That's so exciting! I bet your so proud! My baby sister was born at 1 lb 6oz, then dropped to 1 lb. She is now 12 and one of the tallest in her class. Doctors kept saying she will be small and will soon stop growing, but she keeps growing. Preemies are fighters!
That's amazing
Yay!! Congrats! My mom was born premature in 1958 at around two pounds. Now she has two kids and three grandchildren. Thank God for incubators and the people that made them happen.
Congratulations.
WOW, you have a little warrior.........WWF maybe🦾
My Father was born 2 months premature in 1944. He spent time in an incubator and was healthy enough to be adopted within a few weeks. I owe this inventor a large debt of gratitude for sure!
Isn't it amazing to think that without this technology, 76 years ago, may have resulted in you never existing.
That he encouraged the nurses to hug and kiss their tiny charges was amazingly advanced for the time he lived in. I'll bet that one thing alone saved many lives!
As a mechanically inclined technician who considers themself a psuedo-history buff, with a 23-week 1 lb 7 oz premie son that is now healthy and 3 years old, i found this video to be incredibly resonate. Well done sir and thank you
As a NICU dad, who's child was prem, this man should have been given an international award or something. A true hero.
The first neonatal ward should have been named for him.
How the hell is this not more well-known?! This is medical history, who gives a damn about a piece of paper when someone accomplished this much?
Exactly
I'm sure the mothers didn't care if he was a doctor or not when he saved their babies lives..
@@gracehaven5459 amen. Sometimes doctors are behind innovators
I agree
Because he is not a doctor
He was actually very brilliant when putting the sickly children right in the faces of people. He triggered those hard wired responses to round faces and gave people a personal experience to fight against the seductive antisocial and unjust themes surrounding them. It's so much easier to deny injustice when not hip deep in it's evidence. ♡
It's the same method with ASCPA commercials. They make me cry.
Doctor’s degree or not, this guy was the most qualified person for caring for those children. He practically invented the field. He deserves to be called doctor.
What a bizarre story. The physical contact thing is now seen as important too. Medical technology has improved a lot since then but sometimes the simple things are important too.
The Childhood Origins of the Holocaust
Lloyd deMause
really makes interesting reading alongside side this video
I've heard of kangarooing preemies. I think it was where they put a struggling preemie on someone's bare chest so they can feel their heartbeat. Then theirs will follow along. I could be remembering wrong since it's been a few years since I heard of it though.
he may not had any degrees in medicine but he sure had instinct about that.
Not 'important too', but actually critical to life. Babies without that contact tend to die or grow up terribly stunted.
@@Nirrrina kangaroo care, the heartbeat the rhythm of the persons breathing the natural warmth, it all helps the baby
What a hero, saved 7500 innocent babies lives, I am sure he has special place in Heaven
Martin Couney most certainly deserves to be honored for his compassion and
creativity to achieve genuine results.
This video brought a tear to my eye. Both my sister and I were born premature. Dr. Couney is true hero, but watching this video only makes me wonder how many heroes are out there, waiting and trying to bring great things into this world, only to be shunned and ignored with no way around the bureaucracy.
That's the thing I worry about. A lot of great discoveries and inventions aren't used bc of limitations due to issues with certifications, bureaucracy, politics, profitability, patent loopholes and accessibility, etc. Artificial roadblocks to innovation. I get that some of it limits the number of bad characters harming a lot of ppl, but they seem a bit inefficient and may not be the most effective systems.
See: what happened to Nikolai Tesla. We use his inventions NOW, but we could have had them as far back as the late Victorian period.
@Aces Spades yeah, with today's technology (thanks to past and current research), open source makes innovation much faster and easier. More ppl around the world are able to collaborate, share, resources, bounce ideas around, consult with others, etc. Less barriers to getting involved in some things like ML. It kinda gets rid of some of the inefficiencies seen in things that started before the computer-internet era.
I was born 6 weeks prematurely in 1945, and survived only because our hospital had one of those newly-adopted incubators and was eager to try it out. And because very few other babies were being born in our city in March, 1945, during the wartime baby-slump, I could get the constant attention of the staff. Oddly, I have never heard of Dr. Martin Couney before now! What an unsung hero!
The fact that he encouraged contact with the babies was a huge part of why they lived--and I'm so glad. For those that don't know, when children don't have physical touch, they die. For a long time not handling babies was the norm in orphanage, making being in one a death sentence if they werent adopted quickly enough.
My great aunt was born 2 months early in 1907. Lucky for her, HER aunt was present when she was born, and she wrapped her up, and put her in the wood stove. She died a couple of months after her 92nd birthday, and lived just long enough to meet her first great-grandchild.
Put her in the wood stove..? Please elaborate
@@littlephoot6931 It had the same effect as an incubator. It kept her warm, while the doctor and her aunt were attending to my great grandmother. Apparently the doctor didn’t even think my great aunt would survive, so wasn’t going to waste any time on her, just concentrated on making sure my great-grandmother would survive.
My great-great aunt had other plans for her newborn niece.
@@mocat1 do you mean an empty but still warm from previous fire woodstove? I'm trying to picture it
@@KMF3 I’m sure that had to have been the case, as she was born 2nd March. I only found out about it upon my great aunt’s death. (Wtf? All the stories I grew up hearing about, and not once did I hear that one?!)
@@KMF3 My great uncle was born prematurely during a brutally cold northern Nevada winter. He was put in a shoebox and placed in a wood burning stove where the women kept a 24 hour vigil. I don't know if they used coal, wood or both. But the women were experts at maintaining a precise temperature by periodically putting their hand in.
My mother was a premie who weighed 2lbs 14 oz. when she was born in 1937. She was so small, newspapers in her town reported on it and gave updates on baby Claire. Her first 3 months or so were spent in an incubator, and would have died without. Her mother made a baby book and added those clippings, I still have that book. Mom passed away 10 years ago. Yesterday, Jan. 4th, would have been her 81th birthday. Miss you mom.
I was born premature in the 90s. They said not to hold me other than feedings and my mum would sneak me out. Today a lot of research highlights the importance of human touch on our health. Amazing that Coney pushed for that.
I was a preemie in 1958. 2 lbs 9 ozs. I spent one month in the incubator. Still going strong 62 years later. Thank goodness for the "Sideshow". I still have my name bracelet which barely fits around my thumb now.
A bath and a small dose of Brandy. That sounds quite nice. I think I'll do that myself.
5:56 After that you should get a pink or blue ribbon and put on display
Most would put liquor on there gums for teething as well
The nurses weren’t allowed to drink, but the babies were. lol
I feel like their explanation here left something to be desired. Surely they weren't giving premature babies strong alcohol to drink, so what the hell was the brandy used for?
@@PetziPotato Once you asked, I had to know. lol I found this on a site about old ways of caring for a baby:
“The old wives tale says that brandy is one of the best home remedies for a cold or cough, or when it is too cold outside, or if the child has had a bath in very cold weather and may catch a cold.”
Strange way of establishing something that went on to save countless lives.
The late 1800s were a strange time.
Many advances are only possible because someone does some thinking outside the box.
This was just the Patreon of the 1800's for medical advancement
It is amazing that this man dedicated so much time, effort and money into a project that was so scoffed at by those in the medical field. His efforts made such a huge difference in the survivability of Preemies.
@@slcRN1971 All fields of study and learning, once established, become gatekeepers, and don't like outsiders invading their turf.
I was in an incubator for the first part of my life. Thanks Dr. Couney!! One of the nurses (they were all Nuns as well) took a special interest in me and placed a crucifix on top of my incubator--6 decades later and I still have it have it hanging in my room--Religion and Science hand in hand !
I might not exist without this particular bit of history. My dad was a preemie who benefitted from an incubator in the 1950's and I'm so grateful they were available to give him the best chance. My grandma had suffered multiple miscarriages and a stillbirth before she had my dad, so he was truly her miracle baby. ❤
My dad as well, in 1951. They told my grandparents to do what they needed to prepare him for burial. A fall paralyzed him in 2012 and he died 8 months later. He did have some congenital issues later in life, but other than having 1 leg a little shorter than the other and some hearing loss, both of which kept him out of the draft upon his physical, he became quite healthy.
@@refinnej5302 He sounds like he was an amazing man! My dad has absolutely no ill effects other than maybe being shorter than he would've been otherwise. My grandma's doctor told her after all of those miscarriages and a stillbirth, this pregnancy was her last chance and he wouldn't treat her if she got pregnant again. That pregnancy was my dad and she finally got her 2nd child.
this is one of the life changing events that helped neonatology become the career I’ve had for 27 years. I’ve seen many game changers as a NICU nurse. You can’t believe the incubators we have now!
I’ve seen some videos, and they are insane. Some of them are huge! So amazing tho, to think this is where it all came from! But without them, our little ones might not be here. Huge kudos to this amazing Man!
I have been seeing the new hospital equipment every time I visited my own brother whose a nurse at the local one. This was pre-covid, and some emergency stuff I have seen (aka The New Gurneys the EMTs have.)
And it felt like you guys were preparing for war even back then. Good Luck out there. Oh and my brother works ER.
Haven’t they managed to save babies as early as 22 or 23 weeks now?
I know 3 people 2 ladies and their brother who were infants in the Coney Island exhibition. They were 3 of 15 kids that survived in their family! They had some stories to tell!🤓
Get their story. Write it down. Get it published.
My wife and my son were both premature...I am so glad we have this technology or I would be without the two most precious things in my life.
I think an important aspect to the success of the infants, in addition to the incubators, was the care and affection given to the babies by the nurses. Modern research has shown that babies who receive contact in this way have better chances of survival, and better outcomes in terms of their later physical and mental health (I don't think this was really considered by medical professionals at the time though).
Couney is one of the best examples of being a true legend. He AlLEGENDly didn't have the piece of paper saying he could, yet did it anyway, helping uncountable people along the way.
My mom and her twin brother were born preemies in 1930. Grandma was told to keep them close to the stove. Somehow, she kept them both alive.
What a stunning human. Showman? Who cares?
"Hey, I can save your child from near certain death, and I'll get other people to voluntarily pay the bills to satisfy their own curiosity."
Sounds like a pretty sweet win-win-win-win for everyone involved. (Kid gets life saved, parents don't go bankrupt paying medical bills, tourists get their curiosity satisfied (and probably some warm fuzzy feels) and Couney and his staff get paid.)
My grandmother was incubated in a shoe box in the oven. It was probably a woodstove, and a dropper for milk. My mother backed up the story, and said well that's how they use to do chicken eggs. They had no other way. Very good video, thank you and Merry Christmas.
I was 7-8 weeks premature in 1970 and spent my first two months in an incubator in a completely different state than where my parents lived. Her doctor had told her it would be safe to go camping, as she was two months away from her due date. Long story short, she had to be helicoptered out of The Gila Wilderness and we were on the front page of the local newspaper for two days!
They were so used to _not_ having me around, that they forgot me at a friend's house, once I was finally out of the hospital.
Also, my mother and my aunt (twins) were two months premature back in 1947. Grandmom didn't even know she was going to have two and exclaimed, "OH SHIT!" when the doc told her she wasn't done!
I assume they must've spent time in an incubator, too. Thanks, man!
I was an NICU nurser for simply ages and still work with newborns now; I remember hearing about this in my training and being 'gobsmacked' ...thanks for putting this bit back out there!
Medical history is my FAVORITE! Thank you for sharing such a neat look into a forgotten and important story.
If only all of it were so...helpful.
Agreed!!💕
*Interesting? That doesn't even begin to describe this LITTLE SLICE of HISTORY. MY adjectives would be FASCINATING and INSPIRING.* Thank you so much.
This story is an example why blindly trusting "the experts" is never a good idea.
Sitting here with proof that preemies are not weaklings... My baby sister, born 10 weeks premature, may be a stick and a little on the short side, but most of her weight is pure muscle, she's got a freaking six pack, her biceps are nearly rock hard, and she's only eleven XD she's regularly climbing the walls and tossing herself around via cartwheels, roundoffs, and handstands, she's almost to the point of doing a front flip just because she forgot to put her hands down during a handstand, and she's taught herself most of that on her own, I only showed her what little I remembered about cartwheels and handstands from doing tumbling when I was five XD she's always active, always eating healthier than most eleven year olds (she's not a huge sweets girl and she isn't much of a fan of processed foods), and I can't stop bragging about her ☺️
How sweet to see how much you love her.
She is lucky to have a sibling like you. Cherish each other always.
I can't get enough of these stories. Please Keep them coming Simon.
Human egos, arrogance and reactionism have delayed so many scientific and medical advances over the ages. Outsiders and visionaries get laughed at, mocked and opposed. Their contributions are rarely acknowledged even after their deaths. Thank you for sharing this story about one such visionary who did not permit orthodoxy to defeat his will to help others.
My daughter was 3 pounds, 4 oz. at birth. Thank God for this leading to in hospital incubators. She is now a grown woman with her own first baby now. I feel blessed.
Fascinating story of a very special man! This story needed to be told, thank you for telling it!
My uncle was born one of twins in about 1908, his sister came out big and healthy but he was tiny and wasn't breathing and the midwife lay him aside as dead. My grandfather, who was a war invalid confined to a wheelchair, asked to be able to hold his son and say goodbye to him, and he held the tiny baby close to his heart and told him how he much would have loved him - and after a while he said that the baby was breathing! The midwife insisted that he was wrong, but then my uncle started to cry and they realized that he was indeed not dead! Since my grandmother already had several other children to look after as well as his baby sister and wasn't able to look after another sickly, very underweight baby, as well as work full time to support the family, my grandfather took on the task of looking after him day and night, feeding him, washing him, and sleeping with him in his arms, until he was old enough to walk. My uncle lived into his late sixties and the bond between him and my grandfather was always particularly strong.
the old carnivals and freak shows may have had their problems and some were certainly problematic for quite a few reasons but they helped a lot of people who wouldnt have had a chance in that era otherwise, this is just another aspect of that that has been overlooked and forgotten by most, i love to learn about this kind of thing, just as not every professional knows how to handle all situations in their field, not every amateur should be overlooked cause who knows which ideas will work until its been tried
I am one of the preemies saved by an incubator. My mom was 41 when I was born (5 weeks early). She had already had 2 miscarriages, once carrying twins, so to have me come home from the hospital (only a month late) was a miracle. Thank you Dr Couney!
I am a retired registered nurse and a certified nurse midwife. This is an amazing story that I had never heard about before.
My grandfather was premature, born in the middle of nowhere during a storm. His mom put him in a blanket, then a loaf pan, then right into the oven. It saved his life.
Coney is and will always be a hero. My son was born at 28 weeks and weighed 620 grams (1.3 lbs). He was in the NICU for three months. Now he is a 20 year old university student studying to be a developer. If it weren't for people like Coney and all who followed in his footsteps, my son and millions of other premies wouldn't be alive today.
Johnstown flood. Jonestown was a totally different thing.
Fun Fact: Johnstown flood was caused by US Steel executive Henry Frick because he wanted his carriage to be able to cross a dam.
He fricked up big time
I'm glad someone else caught that. I had to rewind back to the picture to make sure but yeah, its Johntown
This technology saved my life when I had severe pneumonia when I was a baby.
I am grateful.
Ahhh Simon, this one Propper gave me the feels, man! All them sweet little bubbas being saved because someone believed they were worth the effort. Virtually unheard of even 80 years ago!
that might be the sweetest story simon has told us.
Why isn't this man talked about more. A doctor or not what a bad ass!
Damnit Couney, your methods are unorthodox but by god they get results
If the eugenics movement had continued, I would not be here. I was born a month premature with twisted lower limbs and gut issues, collic, jaundice, eye problems and vestigial limbs (a tail). I would absolutely have been deemed not worth saving. I owe him and the medical staff who kept me alive during a war a life debt I can never repay.
The eugenics movement HAS continued. Iceland has no more people with Down's syndrome because they kill them all before birth, in Denmark only a handful are born alive each year. With the research on genetics continuing, genetic markers for autism will soon be identified and we will en-masse be killed before birth, as well. It's considered perfectly acceptable to subject kids to all sorts of treatments to make them more 'normal', and disabled kids are regularly killed by their parents - who are then surrounded with great understanding and pity that they had such hardship in their lives as parents to a disabled child that it drove them to kill the kid. Eugenics is all around us and growing stronger, it has just become more clinical and less visibly messy over the years.
@@monicaspoor2993 agreed. And they know some of the places to look for autism markers: the same place where metabolism markers are. They are linked in many cases if not all. The trick is isolating those genes. I for one see some of the new movement as beneficial: being able to terminate a child early on who is guaranteed to have no quality of life is a regrettable but sometimes beneficial thing. Being able to acknowledge there’s no way the child’s needs could be met because they have a condition they will not survive to adulthood with and then terminating that child should not be a crime. But I worry that it will cause issues later on, when it gets to strictly looks or some such. Terminating because it’s medically kind is one thing. But a large part of eugenics has traditionally been to cultivate a specific race or appearance, and that is where a line must exist.
@@redfailhawk Its a movement that's cons will always outweight its pros thanks to the darker tendencies of humans in as such I would rather support scientific movements that work towards allowing humans to comfortably live out their days as long or short as they may be.
It's still here. And it claims people with any perceived defect are defective and less. It's less a racist argument and more against anyone with a disability, even ones that aren't genetic at all are often claimed as such specifically because some people are just assholes like that. Even some with a freaking PhD
@@monicaspoor2993 I doubt they will succeed in eliminating autism because it has a genuine shot at producing a person with all the standard features, but a fresh perspective. History is full of examples of potentially autistic people going on to greater heights than their Neurotypical peers. What I think will really happen is they'll discover that autism is far more common than people want to believe, and we'll eventually need to accept the existence of people as individuals, instead of trying to lump everyone into a group that can be treated as All Bad or All Good. Besides all this, some folks are like my sister, who had a pre-birth stroke and it caused her disabilities with no outward symptoms to catch it. Some folks are like my parents, who never treated her like she was "wrong". Some folks are like myself, getting along with those bearing mental impairments, and in my *personal* experience, many of them blossom quite nicely when you take an interest in their view of things, much like anyone else. There will never be a Whole-World agreement on how to curate human genetics, just as all the hope in the world can't replace a literal half of a brain. Unless medicine can make a for-certain claim about quality of life, some disorders are only detrimental because society *perceives* them to be a negative, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy when they make no effort to understand the person who is merely a little different.
Basically, there will never be a for-certain test that can prove if Autism, in general, will be a detriment at a practical level, although I imagine that there would eventually be methods for testing if something is obviously and *specifically* wrong with certain aspects of it. Moreso, the hope for technologies like CRISPR are slowly bearing fruit, while any attempts at stopping folks from fucking and keeping babies they made with their own bodies are often met with fierce resistance. Down's, yeah, I can see why not at the practical level, but Autism isn't so cut and dry.
As a mother of a preemie I'm so thankful for Mr Couney.Because of him the world finally starting taking care of the innocent babies born early.He saved so many lives,and he did it free of charge for the parents.He may or may not have been a doctor,but he was a hero.
One of my mother's generation, she died recently aged close to 99, had a friend whose mother delivered him prematurely at home. She placed him in a shoe box full of saw dust warmed close to the wood stove. He lived to be 99.
That was actually really interesting. I hadn't heard that story before.
My sister was very premature and survived in 1956. My Grandmother had a premature baby girl in ~1905 and couldn't get her to an incubator before she died. The change in how these babies were saved is well presented in this video.
I never heard a word of this before. I have read some about eugenics without ever encountering this man. Thank you.
The number of people who wouldn't exist without this man... its amazing 7500 children who likely grew up to have children and grandchildren and now even great grandchildren of their own there is likely hundreds of thousands of people who can attribute their existence to this one man with a passion for saving lives and that's pretty amazing
Defective children? The man who uttered that phrase was a defective adult.
I watched this whole video with tears running down my face. That was an incredible and personally meaningful story. Thank you.
"Medical curiosity" while seemingly exploitive also can be the driving force of innovation
Thankful for this invention
Eugenics v. premature Charles Darwin. Ah, the irony.
Lol... thanks for pointing that out
Really?, wow I didn't know that, very interesting.
Did you know that the first proponent of Eugenics was Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Galton?
@@kathy1310 he was probably jealous of his cousin's public status.
Interesting? This is quite probably the most uplifting RUclips clip I've seen in years ..., and that it should appear just a week before Christmas, in this most troubled year, is a sign that there must be a God (in whatever form you take him/her to be). Many many thanks for this
My mother was born three months early in 1940. In order to get her into a NICU in the Midwest, she had to be placed for adoption as her parents had no money to pay for an incubator.
What a great dude
My father was born premature in 1940. My grandmother would wrap him up and put him in the oven with the pilot light on to keep him warm. I wonder if incubators weren’t available in their area at that time or if the cost was too high.
One of my twins had to go to what we call the NICU in the U.S. I for one think this man was a legend! 🍻
There was a baby incubator building at Wonderland in Revere, Massachusetts; the first theme park in America.
me and my siblings were all born premature, major thanks to this dude
As a preemie mom, I have heard of this story and am so grateful for Coney and his staff! I am writing a historical novel right now with this as an inspiration and setting for the book.
While if wasn’t for this man I could not be here on this mortal plane
A very heart warming story, thank you
A shot of brandy, a blanket and an incubator. Quite LITERALLY heart-warming.
When the nurses can't have a hotdog but the babies can have brandy lol
That was amazing! Why hasn't this video blown up more? Heroes like that need to be celebrated
I benefited from this man's work. I was born prematurely, as was my twin. I have three grown children and am expecting a grandchild in May. 😁
I am 66 yrs. Old. I will ALWAYS appreciate the sideshows of old. I saw the siamese Twins(still living I hope) the morphidite lady who turned our giggles into a biological know it all. Older siblings recall a caged "wild man" biting off chicken heads. 😁 I only know what I saw. GOD BLESS US ONE AND ALL.
Thank you. As a preemie myself, much gratitude to Dr. Couney and all who have since continued & advanced his work.
I was born prematurely and I thank Coney for pioneering care that allowed me to live.
Simon - your quarantine beard is _spectacular._
what a touching and beautiful chapter in the history of medicine!
I was born premature in '65 and in the '70d we moved to South Jersey. I've lived almost all my life in the Atlantic City area and did not know about this. Thank you Simon!
Smart man made it cheap and accessible for families in need,
Perfected it over time with his experience.
Encouraged affection and kindness,
My daughter was a premature and she needed skin to skin contact and incubation, this work led to my daughters survival in her early days I'm glad for this
No way... That's really cool! I wish we got to learn stuff like this in history books!
My grandma was premature. They named her after her mother, expecting her to pass within days. She survived and had 6 children, 19 grandchildren, and 24 (so far) great grandchildren.
As a premi myself I got to commend this take on taking care of these baby far better than the hospitals and even though the man wasn't a doctor he had the compassion of a caring parent. He did good with the finances and gearing it toward the care of the nurse mothers and these babies. It reminded of a doc, I saw when I was ten, of those teen mothers who would just toss these infants in the trash and than people started taking them to fire station.