Sister Elizabeth KennyPrint Page

The Sister Kenny Memorial Pool in the Gladstone Aquatic Centre commemorates Sister Elizabeth Kenny who was recognised for her alternative treatment of polio. 

Elizabeth Kenny (1880 –  1952) was an unaccredited Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis. Her findings ran counter to conventional medical wisdom; they demonstrated the need to exercise muscles affected by polio instead of immobilizing them. Kenny's principles of muscle rehabilitation became the foundation of physical therapy, or physiotherapy.  There is no official record of formal training or registration as a nurse.

Clinics for the treatment of polio victims were opened in Townsville, Brisbane & Toowoomba. Although her unorthodox treatments for polio often brought her into conflict with the medical profession in Australia, Sister Kenny won acclaim in the United States where the Kenny Foundation for the treatment of infantile paralysis was set up in Minneapolis & other clinics were opened.

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