Continued Coverage
Following the announcement that a new radical method for open heart surgery was saving the lives of ill children at the University of Minnesota, the popular press provided continuous coverage. In an era when patient information was not as strictly protected as today, the Minneapolis Star, St. Paul Globe, Dispatch, and the University newspaper, The Minnesota Daily, regularly featured articles that profiled young open heart surgery patients and reported the results of their operations. Feature stories appeared in Time, Life, and Woman's Day magazines.
The press also aided in bringing awareness to blood donation, which benefited patients who underwent cross circulation operations as approximately 15 pints of blood was needed for transfusion. For patients with rare blood types, or for families who could not afford to purchase the needed blood for the operation, appeals were made in local newspapers for donors. On multiple occasions the University’s blood bank became overwhelmed by the response of local citizens to donate their blood to a child in need of heart surgery.