Rotary Foundation

Rotary is on the lookout for two new book house monitors. It's a role that requires just about an hour of your week, but it brings significant benefits to our community members who greatly appreciate the availability of books in the 17 book houses we maintain.

We need dedicated monitors for the book houses located in Helder Park and Greenbrier Apartments. If this opportunity piques your interest, I encourage you to have a chat with Gary Bogle for more details.

How big was the iron lung?

The machine gets the name “iron lung” because it is made of metal and helps people breathe. The iron lung is a 6-foot-long cylindrical unit that functions as a ventilator, or breathing machine, for people who were paralyzed in the upper body by polio.

Cost: The 1930s cost was $2500-3000

Weight: 650-750 lbs.

Is anyone in an iron lung today?

Yes, as of March 2024, Martha Lillard is the last known person in the United States to still use an iron lung to breathe. She contracted polio in 1953, which paralyzed her respiratory muscles. Since Paul Alexander, the other last known patient, died in early 2024, Lillard is now considered the last iron lung patient in the US

How do people use the bathroom in an iron lung?

People used the bathroom while in an iron lung with the assistance of a nurse or caregiver who would insert and remove a bedpan or urinal through a portal in the machine's side, allowing for toileting while the patient's head remained exposed and their body inside the sealed chamber. For hygiene, caregivers would also wash the patient's body and hair through these portals

DY The Holiday's with Groundworks Herrick District Library

Herrick District Library is delighted to serve its mission to empower our community to connect, discover, and create.

Groundworks Coordinator Dan Zuberbier shared all the fun ways that HDL fulfills this mission statement by handing out Holland Rotary logo stickers and telling us about the tools Herrick has available for anyone to use. You can schedule a one-on-one training time on any of these tools and then reserve a 2-hour time block to do your work.

HDL also gives users a limited supply of item blanks to get the project started. For example, if you wanted to make lots of stickers, HDL would give you one blank sheet. Or if you wanted to use the sublimation printer to make personalized coasters, they would give you the first few. They do not sell additional blanks there; you would have to buy them and bring the rest in yourself.

Possibilities also include stained glass making, an embroidery machine, a sewing machine, a serger, a 3D printer, a logo pin button maker, a cutting machine that can do paper, vinyl, cloth, etc (like Cricut), soldering, and 3D modeling software. You could also laser engrave some items; the example he showed was slate coasters with a personalized design cut into them. Making your own cut greeting cards is popular.

This is ideal for you to try out an item before you buy it to make sure it is a good fit for you or to make that big one-time project. One local surgeon used the software and the 3D printer to make an adult male ribcage to practice on before a complex procedure.

Please plan and work on your holiday projects now; Groundworks fills up fully in December.

Sign up for Groundworks here

Dan also spoke about HDL’s Library of Things—this initiative grew out of HDL purchasing equipment so patrons could convert their own media to digital, such as a wedding video or a cassette tape with grandma telling stories from her childhood.

Other items you can now check out to to take home for a week at a time are a rock tumbler, home repair tools, an induction cooktop, a photo booth, a Nintendo Switch, a metal detector, a Roku, an ice cream maker, telescopes, Enchroma colorblind glasses, a ukulele, a steel drum, a 10x10 shade tent, and so much more!

Visit the Library of Things

HDL has a Seed Library. Right now, patrons are welcome to bring in seeds they have collected and in spring other patrons can come and get free seeds for their gardens. They are stored in an old card catalog, which is charming.

There is also a free jigsaw puzzle exchange, and patrons can check out board games.

A great deal of HDL’s circulation now is e-items on their Libby and Hoopla apps. Patrons enjoy reading and listening to ebooks and music.

Herrick District Library is a rousing success at its goals of connection, discovery, and creation in our community.