There’s A Medical Museum In South Dakota That’s Both Wonderfully Weird And Creepy
Medical technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the last 118 years, and nowhere is that more evident than at the Sioux Empire Medical Museum. Visit this little museum in Sioux Falls to see some quirky displays and interesting artifacts. You’ll be even more grateful for the medicine of our generation than ever!
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The Sioux Valley Hospital was built in 1900. The building in this photo was constructed in 1929, and more buildings would follow in the ensuing years.
Over the decades, the hospital has continued to grow and expand. It's now called the Sanford USD Medical Center, and it's so large that it's the second-largest employer in South Dakota. The address of the hospital is 1305 W 18th St, Sioux Falls, SD 57106.
The medical center houses a quirky museum that highlights many of the historic periods of the hospital. You'll find the museum in the hospital concourse between the Locken Lobby and the Van Demark Building.
This museum is small, but it's chock-full of interesting artifacts and displays that show you how different the medical field was back through the years.
It's always stressful to have your child at the hospital, but it must have been much more difficult with conditions like this. Of course, the nurses may not have had the modern facilities back then that they enjoy now, but they were just as loving and caring back then.
The museum is staffed with volunteers and retired nurses who will tell you all about the displays here, including this one of a doctor performing surgery with the help of his scrub nurses.
You've probably heard about people being treated for polio in iron lungs; this is what one of those contraptions looks like. Patients spent months in an iron lung, which helped them breathe. While it looks like a medieval torture device, it saved thousands of lives before the polio vaccine was developed.
Throughout the years, much has changed in the medical field. From the nurses' uniforms to the wheelchairs to the medical instruments used for everything from IVs to surgery, you can see it all here!
Writer, editor and researcher with a passion for exploring new places. Catherine loves local bookstores, independent films, and spending time with her family, including Gus the golden retriever, who is a very good boy.
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