1950s
When people think 1950s no specific medical epidemics come to mind, but there were actually some very important inventions made during this decade. John Gibbon developed the heart lung machine in 1950. Two years later in 1952, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio. Polio is a contagious viral illness that can cause paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death. Today it affects children and adults in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some African countries but the last naturally occurring case of polio in the United States was in 1979.
Narrative
The heart lung machine was important because it was later used in open heart surgery. Polio is just another example of how America has and is the most medically advanced country in the nation. Other countries depend on the US for medicine and help. They depend on us during all the decades. America takes it as their responsibility to help the world and overtime people have just accepted it. America is used to succeeding in a lot of different categories and medicine is just another one of them.
1960s
During this decade, president Johnson created the "Great Society". Its main goal was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. This included the Medicare Act of 1965 and the Medicaid Act of 1965. Medicare was a healthcare program for people over 65 and Medicaid provided free healthcare for poor people. In 1960 Paul Zoll made and implant pacemaker to enable a damaged heart to beat normally. Then two years later, Thomas Weller develops a vaccine against rubella (German measles).
Narrative
The Medicare and Medicaid Acts of 1965 connect to present day because they still exist. Without Lyndon Johnson creating these a large amount of people would be in debt from crazy expensive medical bills. The 1960s rubella would be an excuse for many women to get an abortion. It caused birth defects for the trial and this would tie into the Roe v. Wade case in 1973.