Elmhurst Hospital is celebrating its centennial year. That inspired Sarah Cox, curator of exhibits at the Elmhurst History Museum, to explore the history of healthcare in DuPage County.
The result of her exhaustive research is a new exhibit, Anatomy of Healthcare: DuPage County Medical History, which runs from Jan. 23 to May 3 at the museum, 120 E. Park Ave.
“I knew I didn’t want to do an exhibition just about the hospital but how our community started in healthcare, how the hospital came to be, and where we’re going and how things have developed, especially here in DuPage,” Cox said, adding, “We’ve been a growing community for more than a hundred years.”
They are launching the new exhibit with an “Elmhurst Gives Back Blood Drive,” 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 24 on a mobile donor bus provided by Vitalant. Drop-ins are welcome but donors are encouraged to register at bit.ly/EHMblooddrive.
Cox spent a year brainstorming, researching, fabricating pieces, securing loans, and installing the exhibit. In other words, she was responsible for every aspect of the project. She will also be doing a gallery tour, as she does with every exhibit she creates.
Cox said she worked backwards on this project.
“I looked at What do we have now? What is my personal experience with healthcare—going for annual checkups, having screenings,” she said. Then she jumped backwards to answer the question, “What was it like if I was living here in 1850?” Cox questioned. “Do I still have access to all of those same things? No, I have access to none of those things.”
Cox said she explored how the changes occurred and who the pioneers were.
“After that, it was diving down a bunch of rabbit holes,” she said.
Cox said she prefers first-person accounts so she read a lot of doctors’ notebooks and journals that were in the museum’s archives.
“After that it was books, publications, working with other museums and organizations that hold the artifacts and archival materials based on some of the topics that I explore in the exhibit,” Cox said.
One surprising thing she discovered was that, even though the county was affected by such diseases as influenza and the Spanish flu, the second-biggest killer was train accidents. “They didn’t have alarms, bells and whistles, and arms going down to stop you from crossing train tracks,” she explained.
Artifacts in the exhibit include doctors’ instruments and tools, medications, original documentation from the establishment of Elmhurst Hospital, and nurses’ uniforms from different eras, among other items.
Children will have hands-on experiences at the exhibit’s Kids’ Clinic. “They can dress up as a doctor or dress up as a nurse and treat a doll or a teddy bear,” she said.
There will be a number of events related to the exhibit:
“Nature Cure: The Lindlahr Sanitarium.” Curator of Collections Dan Lund will speak about the nature treatments Dr. Henry Lindlahr gave in Elmhurst. 1-2 p.m. Feb. 8. $8; free to Elmhurst Heritage Foundation Members. Registration is required.
“Anatomy of Healthcare: Du Page County Medical History” Gallery Talk by Curator of Exhibits Sarah Cox. Noon Feb. 22. $8; free to Elmhurst Heritage Foundation Members. Registration is required.
“Medicine of the Civil War.” Presentation will be by Kenosha Civil War Museum Curator Doug Dammann. 6:30 p.m. March 5. $8; free to Elmhurst Heritage Foundation Members. Registration is required.
“Bus Tour: International Museum of Surgical Science.” 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. March 18. $95; $85 for Elmhurst Heritage Foundation Members. Fee includes admission, transportation, and a three-course lunch at Orso’s Italian Restaurant in Old Town. Registration is required.
“Patch Adams” Film Screening. 2 p.m. April 10 at Elmhurst Public Library, 125 S. Prospect Ave. Free.
“Rescue & Ready Kids Day.” Family-friendly event explores the ins and outs of the human body. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.
For registration and further information, visit elmhursthistory.org/programs-and-events.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
