York County Medicine Fall 2019 - 30

YO R K C O M E D S O C . O R G

IN THE NEWS:

Donations From 1963 York County Polio
Clinics Fund Medical School Loans Today
by Gordon Freireich

Polio!
It was a word that struck terror in the hearts of parents and
children before 1955.
The first polio epidemic in the United States dates to 1894.
Across the years, no one was free of that fear - even future President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was stricken in 1921.
In the 1940s, summer months were especially perilous for
the spread of the disease. Iron lungs were used to assist patients
with their breathing. In 1947, there were 75 cases of polio in York
County. The stand-alone Campbell Isolation Unit was opened at
York Hospital in 1949 to cope with the increase in polio cases, as
well as other communicable diseases.
The picture brightened considerably in the early 1950s when
Dr. Jonas Salk developed an injectable vaccine to prevent polio. By
the mid-1950s, the number of polio cases dropped dramatically.
By 1957, Albert Sabin's oral version was developed and by
1962 had replaced Salk's needle-applied vaccine.
In the spring of 1963, the York County Medical Society and
the Hanover Medical Society held the first of three Sabin polio
clinics to get the preventative medication to as many people as
possible. Thirty-four sites were designated as distribution points.
It was Page One news! "135,000 Countians Take Sabin
Vaccine" shouted the headline on the March 4, 1963 York Gazette
and Daily (a forerunner to the York Daily Record).
"Everyone in the county was eligible for the vaccine which was
administered without charge with a 25-cent donation per dose
requested to help cover the cost," the article states.
Grateful residents contributed $42,248 to that fund, which
was set up as a trust in October 1963. Over the past 56 years
that fund has grown, according to Dr. Benjamin A. Hoover II, a

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York County Medicine | FALL 2019

retired internist and hospitalist, who co-chairs the fund at the York
County Medical Society along with Dr. Stacey Robert, director for
York Hospital's Family Medicine Residency program.
Through investments and additional contributions that trust
fund now has assets of $364,000.
And the money has been put to work over the years, Hoover
notes, providing loans to medical students - future doctors. The
first loan was made in 1964.
Today "outstanding loans average from $12,000 to $33,000
for four years." The need-based loans are renewable each year.
A medical student's loan is interest-free until 10 years after
entering medical school and then at an interest rate of 5 percent.
Hoover proudly notes, "We have no reports of defaults" on the
loans.

To get a loan
Students interested in learning more about the York County
Medical Society loan program should contact:
Liz Torres, Executive Director
P.O. Box 7346
York, PA 17404-0346
It is reassuring to know that donations from oral polio clinics
set up more than 50 years ago to help York countians stay healthy,
continue to work to do so through helping develop new doctors.
Gordon Freireich is a former editor of the York Sunday
News. Email: gordonaf2805@gmail.com.
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York County Medicine Fall 2019

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