SNIPPET: Elizabeth KENNY was born on September 20, 1886, in Warrialda, New South Wales. An Australian nurse, she developed a special method of treating poliomyelitis and became a nurse in the bush (frontier) country of Australia. During an epidemic of poliomyelitis, Miss KENNY could not get medical help. This led her to work out her own methods of treating the victims. She found that prompt application of hot woolen packs relieved muscle spasms and often kept the patient from becoming crippled. Sister KENNY, as she was called after she became a head nurse, served as a nurse in the Australian Army during World War I. In 1933, she set up her own clinic in Townsville (Queensland). Her treatment was accepted for use in Australian hospitals by 1939. She lectured and demonstrated the method in the United States in 1940, and secured funds to set up the Elizabeth Kenny Institute in Minneapolis, MN. She wrote much about polio and an autobiography, "And They Shall Walk," in 1943. -- Excerpt, "World Book" encyclopedia