News Release
April 7, 2005
Contact: Charles Miller, 202-686-2210, ext. 357
National Medical Group Creates Award
In Honor of Henry Heimlich
Seattle Inventor to Become First Recipient
WASHINGTON -- The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
(PCRM), a Washington-based nonprofit that promotes preventive medicine
and alternatives to animal research has created a new award in honor
of physician Henry J. Heimlich of Cincinnati, who developed the
famous Heimlich Maneuver. The award, the Henry J. Heimlich Award
for Innovative Medicine, will be presented to Seattle inventor Christopher
Toly on April 16 at PCRM’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. The
celebration will be hosted by actor Alec Baldwin and attended by
a host of other celebrities, including Alicia Silverstone, Darryl
Hannah, singer Emmylou Harris, and Heimlich himself.
“Dr. Henry Heimlich’s vision and incredible creativity
are responsible for medical advances that have saved tens of thousands
of lives,” said PCRM president and founder Neal Barnard, M.D.
“He is the embodiment of innovation, compassion, and getting
the job done. His work has inspired researchers and medical students
to break convention, think creatively, and focus on what counts:
saving lives.”
In addition to developing what came to be known as the Heimlich
Maneuver, Heimlich also invented the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve,
used in cases of severe chest trauma to drain blood and air out
of the chest cavity. Introduced in 1964, the device was barely five
inches long and cost just one dollar to produce, but it made Dr.
Heimlich a hero in the Vietnam War era, saving the lives of thousands
of wounded American and Vietnamese soldiers. Today more than 250,000
Heimlich valves are used worldwide each year to treat patients following
surgery or with chest wounds.
Dr. Heimlich’s work with PCRM began in the late 1980s, when
he spoke out against the cruel dog-drowning experiments some had
proposed for testing the Heimlich Maneuver. He later narrated a
video produced by PCRM and the Massachusetts General Hospital to
illustrate Harvard Medical School's new alternative to animal laboratories
in medical education. Working with PCRM’s president Neal Barnard,
M.D., he produced a series of PCRM public service announcements
on first aid, preventive medicine, and nutrition, and spoke out
for the reform of federal dietary guidelines.
Mr. Toly receives the award in recognition for his invention, TraumaMan,
a human simulator that replaces the use of dogs in trauma training
exercises for surgeons and emergency physicians. The manikin is
an exact replica of a human torso that is so lifelike, it bleeds
when cut. Toly has also developed simulators for other procedures,
such as laparoscopic surgery.
Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine,
especially good nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical research
studies, opposes unethical human experimentation, and promotes alternatives
to animal research.
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