Tuesday, August 9, 2016

MMC-125 : The Story Behind the Photo




Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh is celebrating 125 Years

Between now and the final celebration in September, we will share some stories and facts to show how far we have come in furthering the vision of the initial Sisters.

The Story Behind the Photo …



The story behind the photo from The Patient Care Panel of The Hallmarks of Mercy Historical Display

The little boy with the broken arm is Mr. Allan Lichtwald, currently of Red Granite, WI.  The year was about 1950.  He was a 10-year-old pediatric patient with a broken arm.  The fracture was so close to his elbow that the bone wouldn’t knit together correctly and had to be re-broken 18 times.  A specialist was called in from Milwaukee who recommended amputating the boy’s arm because it would never heal properly.  The boy’s parents said, “No” and signed him up for accordion lessons as therapy.  That did the trick!  Mr. Lichtwald to this day still has his arm intact and in working order.

He is pictured with his favorite nurse, Nancy, who used to sneak him cups of peanut butter because he didn’t like the food served on his tray.

2 November 2001
as told by Mr. Lichtwald to Michele Matucheski, MMC Librarian

Post Script :  Mr. Allan Lichtwald died peacefully Sept. 6, 2011, in Marian, WI.  
He was born Oct. 9, 1940.    


Read more about  History of Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh, WI :
                The Hallmarks of Mercy Historical Display (Digital)



These short articles appeared in Jeremy Normington-Slay's Friday News & Notes emails sent out to all Mercy employees in 2016.  The historical and Archival Material was provided by Michele Matucheski, Librarian and Archivist at Mercy Medical Center. 

2 comments:

  1. I don’t think any of us that worked with Al Lichtwald knew about his broken arm? That’s a fascinating story and goes to show us how medical science has greatly improved since the early 1950’s. Thanks for sharing that story with the rest of us. Al was very important to our engineering work. I worked in Gear Engineering at what’s called Plant 4 in Fond du Lac. Mercury is well known for making the best gears in the business and the best outboard engines. Our gears are produced on Gear Generators, very special and complicated equipment. With Al’s knowledge he was able to set up these generators to make our experimental gears for us to test and improve our products. These gears are located in the lower unit (also called a gear case) and takes the power from the engine and transfers it to the propeller. Al was a big part of what we did! I probably saw Al’s picture dozens of times and never connected him with it. Thanks to you, you spread the word to the world! Thanks Michele for what you do!

    Your tour guide helper,
    Jim Skriski

    ReplyDelete
  2. It’s so nice to get positive and encouraging feedback on the story about Mr. Lichtwald. It’s one of my favorite stories on the Wall of History. Maybe I can bring it up with the 2nd graders next time around to say that his broken arm mended with accordion lessons. And that he grew up to do important engineering (?) work for Mercury Marine …

    ReplyDelete