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.
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 :
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.
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!
ReplyDeleteYour tour guide helper,
Jim Skriski
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 …
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