Grand Rapids Public Museum

by Alex Forist
Collections Curator, Grand Rapids Public Museum 

For over a century Grand Rapids proudly proclaimed itself the nation's Furniture City, but as times changed this extractive and manufacturing-based industry has dwindled to a fraction of its former importance. Our city's transition into a regional medical center with a service-based economy of highly-educated healthcare workers is underway, and the Grand Rapids Public Museum wants to capture and tell the story. Currently, local companies and organizations are leading the way towards Grand Rapids' future through their innovative research and the development of significant new medical devices and treatments, all of which is shared through a world-class system of schools and hospitals.

This fall the Museum began a concerted effort to begin collecting medical artifacts made or used here in West Michigan.  We contacted several different companies and organizations in the area to learn more about their products and asked them if they would be willing to loan or donate examples for the Museum's collections.  Thus far we have acquired joint implants from the Stryker Corporation, a cell culture system from RealBio Technologies Inc., tools for heart surgery from Medtronic, automatic CPR machines from Michigan Instruments, and research equipment from the Van Andel Institute, and we hope to expand the list in the coming months. 

Collecting these medical devices and research tools is an important step for the Museum.  Not only do they ensure that our collections will remain up-to-date and relevant with what is going on in our community, but they will also help us tell the stories of these companies.  Michigan Instruments and their automatic CPR machines are a great example.

 Born from a collaboration of doctors at Butterworth Hospital and engineers at Lear Siegler during the early 1960s, the External Cardiac Compressor or “Thumper” is an excellent example of medical innovation in West Michigan. Dr. Clare Barkalow founded Michigan Instruments in Grand Rapids in 1963 to produce state-of-the-art mechanical CPR systems, and the company has been doing so ever since. Their products can be found in ambulances and hospitals around the world.  The two models shown here date to 1968 and 2008 and illustrate how although the basic form of the device has remained relatively unchanged, the company continues to improve and refine their product.

Many of the artifacts collected as part of this initiative are currently on display at the Public Museum.  They complement the BODIES REVEALED exhibition, as both help to educate our customers about the health care renaissance going on in their own backyard.

To see more of these medical devices visit our Collections Catalog and search for keyword "West Michigan Medical".

 - posted by aforist@grmuseum.org
11/28/2010