Couney defied convention to save lives

I recently learned unbelievable information, but it's all true. This story goes back to the early 20th century — the “Children's Hatchery” exhibit at Coney Island, operating 40 years beginning in 1903.

The guy who set it all up was determined. When prevailing opinion said of premature babies of “let them die,” Martin Couney responded with “let them live.” He became known as the “incubator doctor” — although he was likely never a medical doctor.

Couney borrowed the incubator idea from a French obstetrician who had based his invention on a “poultry brooder” used to hatch chicken eggs. Couney introduced a new incubator model at Berlin's World Exposition in 1896. I don't know how many he had, but they weren't empty. The premature babies protected in the incubators attracted crowds of people. The exhibit was called the “Children's Hatchery.”

From there, Couney traveled with his exhibit to fairs and amusement parks worldwide with his team of nurses, doctors, and midwives. Eventually, he landed permanently in a pavilion at the famed Coney Island amusement park in New York.

Visitors found him among the Ferris wheels, and paid a quarter a ticket to come inside and gawk at the babies, who were often dressed in doll clothes to create compassion for their tininess. The price of admission is how Couney met the needs the infants. His state-of-the-art glass and steel incubators were imported from France. A boiler heated water that ran through tubes beneath the bedding. The babies breathed filtered air.

Most of the volunteered newborns were from poor families who could not afford the $15 a day to care for a preemie. This was their desperate attempt to give their child life. Ultimately, Couney saved 7,000 babies. He went from being branded an impostor who exploited children to gaining the attention of well-known pediatricians.

When Martin Couney died in 1950, hospitals across the US had begun to use incubators. His perseverance — his willingness to be ridiculed — for the sake of the babies has multiplied far beyond the 7,000 lives he saved.

I find his story an inspiring read at Christmas time — thinking about Joseph and his situation. We learned from our pastor's teaching last Sunday about the wedding customs in the time of Jesus' birth. An engagement was a binding contract — meaning far more than it does today. The girl lived with her parents for a year, culminating in a wedding ceremony and feast lasting a week.

When it “became known” that Mary was pregnant, everything was off. No friends, no celebratory feast — and by not “sending her away secretly,” Joseph took on her humiliation within his cultural community. He too, was snubbed and ridiculed. He persevered — we can infer it was no picnic — and became one of the most respected men in history.

Maybe I won't save the lives of thousands of babies like Martin Couney — or even one, as Mary and Joseph did when they were warned to “take the Child” and “flee to Egypt” — however, my determination can lead to other good results. To triumphant outcomes I can't even see — just as they couldn't. If hope is “the thing with feathers” — then perseverance is surely its flight path.

Carol Shirk Knapp is the author of "The Preacher's Kid" column.