Medical Advancements during the Great Depression

The period of hardship between the late 1920’s and the late 1930’s is called the Great Depression. The average American families income went down 40% and almost everyone was affected. In these years the American public was subject to harsh conditions, but we survived.
During this difficult time Americans were still progressing in the medical field. In 1931 the first clinical use of Penicillin was conducted. Penicillin was a large medical breakthrough for the treatment of harmful bacterial infections. Penicillin is most likely in some form for any antibiotic that you take. I believe most people have suffered a sinus infection, Strep throat, or even a case of pneumonia. Antibiotics treat all of these, and antibiotics all start with Penicillin.
In 1935 the heart-lung machine was invented. This allowed surgeons to attempt to preform open-heart surgeries. These surgeries were never an option before this important invention. When this was produced the doctors of time could perform invasive heart surgries that were never an option before. The machine works by taking the job of the heart during surgery. This instrument has saved thousands of lives by allowing doctors to internally treat the heart.
In 1937 George Beadle and Edward Tatum presented the gene-one enzyme theory that stated that all chemical reactions inside the cell are enzymes and that all enzymes is controlled by one gene. This is still an accepted theory and has provided the basis for many new gene experiments and discoveries. George Beadle and Edward Tatum received at Nobel Prize for their achievements in physiology and medicine in 1958.
During the Great Depression new and safer ways to preform blood transfusions were being created.The blood for these transfusions needed to be cared for so in 1937 the first blood bank opened in Cook County Hospital, Chicago. Nowadays, blood banks sprawl across the country and are strictly regulated. This was a big step for medical safety.
Through the hardships of the Great Depression Americans in the medical field persevered and pushed for new advancements. These important steps ahead have provided us with great knowledge today, in our day and age. The medical theories, discoveries, and new inventions from the Great Depression have given us the foundation for how far we have come in the medical world.