Dimes and Time: The Fight for a Polio Vaccine

This blog post is part of our “Stronger Together Oregon” blog series that focuses on communities of color in Oregon.

This blog is written by Tam Lutz, MPH, MHA, CPST, and Tyanne Conner, MS. Tam is a Lummi Tribal member with ancestral ties to the Quinault, Nooksack, Skagit, Chinook, Cowlitz, Snoqualmie, Suquamish and Duwamish Tribes. Through the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB), Tam Lutz serves as the NW Tribal Epi Center’s Project Director for WEAVE-NW, and Native Boost: Addressing Barriers to Childhood Immunization through Communication and Education. Tyanne Conner is the Native Boost Project Coordinator at NPAIHB. Native Boost strives to increase vaccine confidence and increase childhood immunization rates in Tribal communities across Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

“Throughout history Native communities have contributed dimes, time, and care to help eradicate disease”

To celebrate and honor Native American Heritage Month, we at Native Boost would like to weave together stories of past and present that may guide us to a healthier, more connected future.

Many people today might not know someone who has had polio and may not have heard stories of the devastation the disease wrought before the advent of vaccines.  The effects of a polio virus infection ranged from fever and stiff neck to total paralysis within hours.  Typically children under 5 years were affected and with no cure for the disease, the only weapon to this day is prevention.

As a child in the 80s, I remember March of Dimes fundraisers in the form of cans at grocery checkouts. We heard constantly that any spare change would add up to big impacts, and of course as kids we hoped that some of our nickels and dimes might help make a difference in the world somehow. 

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1281641

Spare change didn’t exist for many people during the Great Depression, but a plea for everyone to give a dime or two to help eradicate polio sparked an outpouring of public support and raised $268,000 in one week.  A short video Polio, the March of Dimes, mass philanthropy, and a family story, highlights one family’s discovery of an aunt’s involvement in fundraising. 

We don’t have to go that far from home to hear similar family stories, like that of Tam Lutz, Lummi Tribal member and Native Boost Project Director. Tam’s grandmother Josephine James Oliver who lived near the Quinault Indian Nation in 1949 was a campaign director in the fight against polio.  She believed everyone could make a difference so she took to the streets to ask for contributions in her community. The recession of 1949 devastated many families, yet Mrs. Oliver held fundraising events and collected coins to contribute to eradicating polio. Even people who had very little gave their nickels and dimes.  Records saved by the family show how her work and contributions of her community made a difference in the eventual creation of the polio vaccine in 1955 .  By 1979, polio was eliminated in the United States due to vaccination efforts.

Recently, polio was brought to the United States by a traveler and has been circulating, putting unvaccinated individuals at risk.  The success of vaccines has unfortunately made many people take for granted the job they have done to protect our communities. When we don’t see the effects of a devastating disease like polio, it can lure us into thinking there is no risk and therefore, no reason to vaccinate.  As more people go unvaccinated, the risk of the disease making a comeback rises again and the most vulnerable are often unprotected.  This is true for all vaccine preventable diseases including COVID-19 and flu.  More people vaccinated equals more people protected, including those who are too young to be vaccinated, or those who are immune compromised.

We are all connected in this world, much more so than ever before.  Every thread you touch weaves its way around me and each strand I hold resonates with the love and care of all who have contributed.  Here at Native Boost, we weave our stories together to share information and resources. We work together so that we may protect our elders, our communities, our culture, and our future.  For vaccine confidence information specifically for Indian Country, please reach out to nativeboost@npaihb.org.