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RADIUM LOAN PROGRAM
1937-1960s
Radium Appeal!
It is a little known fact that radium once accounted for about half the budget of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It is also little known that this radium was not used for research, either clinical or experimental. The radium was loaned to about 70 hospitals throughout the United States for the routine treatment of cancer, mainly for patients who would otherwise have been unable to afford therapy. Put another way, about half the budget of the NCI went on treating the poor.
The radium loan program, as it was known, was established in 1937, the year the NCI was created. This was a time when radium and x-rays were the only alternatives to surgery in the treatment of cancer; when the nation had only about half the radium it needed for treatment; when radium was extremely expensive; and when hospitals reported that many patients could not complete treatment programs for lack of money.
The government's purchase of radium fitted with contemporary New Deal policies aimed at alleviating the harsh conditions of the economic depression of the 1930s. For some critics it raised the specter of socialized medicine, while others feared that it would harm the development of the NCI as a research organization. Nevertheless, radium was crucial to persuading Congress to support the creation of the NCI. Many representatives were suspicious of research: they feared that it would not help people suffering from the disease, and were not persuaded of the need for Federal support for the biomedical sciences. The acquisition of radium provided an important way of showing them that the NCI would immediately benefit patients. Such attitudes towards research would change during and after World War Two when the nation began to invest heavily in science. But, in the 1930s routine radium treatment was both significant in its own right, and for encouraging the acceptance of federally funded research.
This important program is virtually unknown today. Very few records of it have survived, and most people involved in the program have passed on. It is the forgotten program of the NCI. Yet it survived until at least the 1960s — the last record we have of it is in 1966, but it probably lasted longer. Indeed, when in the late 1950s officials attempted to close down the program they found — to their surprise —- that the hospitals continued to demand radium; this at a time when enthusiasm had largely shifted to other radiation sources and to chemotherapy.
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Dr. David Cantor is attempting to trace the history of this program and he could use your help. On the reverse side is a list of the hospitals that received radium. If you remember this program or know someone who might then please get in contact with him at Building 31. Room 2B09. |
Organizations receiving NCI radium
Alabama
Jefferson-Hillman Hospital, Birmingham
Arkansas University of Arkansas Hospital, Little Rock
California
Los Angeles County General Hospital, Los Angeles
Colorado
Bonfils Foundation Tumor Clinic, Univ. Colorado, Denver
Colorado General Hospital, Denver
St. Luke's Hospital, Denver
Connecticut
Danbury Hospital, Danbury
Grace-New Haven Community Hospital, New Haven
New Britain General Hospital, New Britain
Norwalk General Hospital, Norwalk
St. Francis Hospital, Hartford
St. Joseph's Hospital, Stamford
Stamford Hospital, Stamford
District of Columbia
Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC
George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC
Georgia
City-County Hospital, LaGrange
Emory University Hospital, Emory University, GA
Hawaii
The Queen's Hospital, Honolulu
Illinois
Cook County Hospital, Chicago
Herrin Hospital, Herrin
Indiana
Indianapolis City Hospital, Indianapolis
Protestant Deaconess Hospital, Evansville
Iowa
Broadlawns General Hospital, Des Moines
Kansas
Sedgwick County Hospital and Clinic,Wichita
Kentucky
King's Daughters Hospital, Ashland
Norton Memorial Infirmary, Louisville
St. Joseph's Infirmary, Louisville
Louisiana
Shreveport Charity Hospital, Shreveport
Maryland
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
United States Marine Hospital, Baltimore (and NCI), Baltimore (and Washington DC)
University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore
Massachusetts
Worcester City Hospital, Worcester
Michigan
Mercy Hall Cancer Hospital, Detroit
Receiving Hospital, Detroit
University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor
Mississippi
The Lutheran Hospital, Vicksburg
Missouri
Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital, St. Louis
Kansas City Municipal Hospital, Kansas City
Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital, Columbia
Peoples Hospital, St. Louis
Nebraska
University of Nebraska Hospital, Omaha
New Jersey
Newark Beth Israel Hospital, Newark
Newark City Hospital, Newark
New York
The Albany Hospital, Albany
Binghamton City Hospital, Binghamton
Vassar Brothers Hospital, Poughkeepsie
The Genesee Hospital, Rochester
Meadowbrook Hospital, Hempstead
Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester
North Carolina
Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Charlotte
Duke University, Durham
North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston- Salem
Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital, Pittsburgh
Misericordia Hospital, Philadelphia
South Carolina
Greenville General Hospital, Greenville
Tri-County Hospital/Orangeburg General Hospital, Orangeburg
Spartanburg General Hospital, Spartanburg
Columbia Hospital of Richland County, Columbia
South Dakota Sacred Heart Hospital Tumor Clinic, Yankton
Tennessee
The Baroness Erlanger Hospital Chattanooga
Nashville General Hospital, Nashville
Knoxville General Hospital, Knoxville
Texas
Baylor University Hospital, Dallas,
El Paso City- County Hospital, El Paso
Vermont
Mary Fletcher Hospital, Burlington
Rutland Hospital, Rutland
Virginia
Medical College of Virginia, Richmond
University of Virginia Tumor Clinic
Washington
Tumor Institute of the Swedish Hospital, Seattle
West Virginia
Mountain State Memorial Hospital
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