Transcript

MN90 Intro: Welcome to MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds. Narrator: August 10, 1896 – The Minnesota Department of Health opened its new bacteriology lab. And one of the first hires was Dr. Orianna McDaniel. She was a first of another kind too—the first female physician hired by the state. Which might explain why she, unlike her male peers, was only hired part-time. Her days were spent with some of the most deadly organisms on earth: small pox, diphtheria, typhoid and glanders, a bacteria often fatal to horses and humans. Two Minnesota men had already died from it—and soon Dr. McDaniel, who’d picked it up from the lab, was fighting for her life. A newspaper dubbed her a “victim of science.” But miraculously, she not only pulled through, but also became head of the Department of Preventable Diseases—and live to ripe old age of 102. MN90 Outro: MN90 is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at mn90.org.