Almost 150 years ago , the lifeless body of a beautiful vernal fair sex was rend from the river Seine in Paris . The nameless girl , believe to have committed felo-de-se by jump from a nearby bridge , was brought to the Paris morgue , where unidentified corps were place out for public screening ( andmacabre amusement ) .
At the dead room , a aesculapian assistant was move by the girl ’s serene expression and tragical beauty . He sent for amouleuror molder to upchuck her face in plaster — an object known as adeath mask . Without explanation , the plaster masque of the young woman ’s half - smile grimace was mass - produced and became a sensation in turn - of - the-20th - century Europe . Artists , poets and intellectuals hung the mask on their studio apartment walls and dub herL’Inconnue de la Seine(“the unknown charwoman of the Seine " ) . She inspired paintings and tragically romantic stories . The Gallic philosopher and source Albert Camuscalled hera " drownedMona Lisa . "
Some doubtthat the masque was really modeled on a swim woman because the face await so smooth and arrant . But as you ’ll see , this is n’t the strangest thing about the story . The muse of Bohemian artists provided a very dissimilar sort of inspiration for the aesculapian profession . In the late fifties , the " unknown woman of the Seine " became the unbelievable face of CPR Annie , the humankind - famousCPRtraining mannequin .
The Early Days of CPR - Broken Ribs and Squished Spleens
In 1956 , the anesthesiologists Peter Safar and James Elam met at a conference in Kansas City , Missouri , where Elam told Safar abouta promising new techniquecalled " mouth - to - mouth external respiration " for resuscitating patient role who had terminate breathing .
Safar was fascinate , and over the next few year , the two men developed a three - step system ( tilt the head back , chest of drawers compressions , lip - to - sassing ) for keeping patients awake who had stick out a monumental affectionateness flak . They called it cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR .
To practice this unexampled technique , Safar and Elam recruited coma patient ( with the family ’s consent ) or sedated volunteers , include workfellow . But CPR , when done correctly , is red enough to break bone .
" You will actually experience the ribs break underneath your hands , " saysSarah McKernon , a older lecturer in oral surgery at the Liverpool University Dental Hospital , who also trains pupil in CPR . " The fact that they were practicing CPR on each other with the added hazard of wrong to the spleen , it ’s unbelievable , but that was an accepted practice for a long time . "
The Norwegian Toymaker Connection
Bjørn Lind wasone of only 13 practicing anesthesiologistsin Norway when he attended a 1958 medical conference and heard a presentation by Peter Safar on sass - to - mouth public discussion . Home to a vivacious nautical civilization , Norwegians had long searched for the practiced way to revive a drown victim , and CPR looked bright .
Back at his infirmary in the small-scale Norwegian city of Stavanger , Lind and his colleagues ran into the same challenge as Safar and Elam , finding willing volunteers on which to practice and instruct CPR . Lind oncerecruited his own wife(sedated , thankfully ) for a CPR monstrance .
In the 1950s , one of the biggest toymakers in Europe was a Norwegian company called Laerdal , set up in Stavanger , the same modest city where Bjørn Lind practiced anesthesia . Laerdal ’s intimately - selling toys were theTomte lineof soft - plastic cars and trucks , and a sister doll named Anne .
Laerdal was a trailblazer in soft plastics and the company soon pull in attention formore than miniature . First , the Norwegian Civil Defense asked Laerdal to create realistic - looking plastic model of wounds for aim military medical officer . The result was thePractoplast kitof 33 adhesive wounds complete with pumps for squirting out phony blood .
Then Asmund Laerdal , the society ’s beginner , heard through the Red Cross about the work being done by Lind and the Americans with CPR . Just a few years earlier , Asmund had resuscitate his untried son after he nearly drowned . Laerdal catch an chance to help oneself . He call Lind and offered to make a life - size , adult Anne doll on which CPR trainees could safely do their life - redeem young technique .
" This [ call ] decided the track of my career , " said Lind , consort to a paperpublished in JAMAin 2005 .
Together , Lind and Laerdal design the world ’s first CPR education fashion model , which they named Resusci Anne . In 1960 , they wreak their prototype to the U.S. to show it to Safar and another CPR pioneerArcher Gordon . It was Safar ’s idea to put a metal spring in the mannequin ’s chest to commit thorax compressions .
McKernon at the Liverpool University Dental Hospital finds it remarkable that these CPR pioneers from unlike countries tie in with a Norse toymaker to invent the CPR doll .
" They were onwards of their fourth dimension in that they recognize this was even an option , " says McKernon , whoco - authored a paperin the British Medical Journal about the mannequin ’s unusual story . " This was way before the net . The odds of that happening and the fact that we terminate up with this mannikin is quite incredible . "
‘The Most-kissed Face in the World’
From the outset , Laerdal and Lind decided that the CPR mannequin should be a female — closely all doctors at the prison term were virile and would be more comfortable " snog " a distaff doll , says McKernon . But what should this female doll look like ?
Here comes the creepy part .
Laerdal was call in some congenator when he blob the serenely smile death masque of the " strange fair sex of the Seine " on their wall . It struck him as the perfect visage for the CPR doll . So , with some minor modifications — slightly depart lips and a headspring of fake pilus — he created a CPR form with the face of a dead 19th - 100 French young lady .
Laerdalis now the large manufacturer of medical feigning manikin in the globe — includingbaby - sized CPR wench , interactivepatient simulatorsand mannequinsthat give birth . Laerdal has betray gazillion of Resusci Anne CPR mannequins , also known as CPR Annie .
If you ’ve ever taken a CPR grooming year , you believably locked sass with CPR Annie , prompt some to call the mannequin themost - kissed typeface in the earthly concern .
