Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-18
IS WOMEN EQUIPPED
TO CURE SICK WILLS
Philadelphia School of Occupa.
tional Therapy to Cradu.
ate First Glass

Thrty-fivc women, composing the hrst
class In the Philadelphia School of Occupa-
tional Therapy. will be graduated the first
week of February. The school has just
issued its prospectus of the second course.
which will begin Immediately after the com
mencement.
The thirty-fve graduates are expected to
help fiji an immediate need in military and
civil hospitals for women trained to furnish
bedside occupation and to direct the hand
work of disabled and nervous patients. The
demand for such reconstruction aides Is not
only pressing today but becoming more in
sstent and the Philadelphia school hopes to
fit hundreds of women for the work.
The course offered during the next term
will include; principles of design and their
application theory of color and Application :
weaving on hand and trcadle looms clock
printing, stenciling; cord and bead work :;
knitting; braided and hooked rugs book
binding: jewery; wood carving, toy making
and hospital training.
Occupational therapy is meant to restore
the spirit as well as the body of the disabled
1t is on the theory that If a mans mind,
courage and interest are enlisted in his own
recovery, healing goes on rapidly ana Inc
sufferer is remade If not, no mere surgical
wonders, no careful nursing. VIII avail 10
make a man of him again.
"'rhat this is a hard task none who knows
hospital life can doubt" declared one of the
school directors, THAT 1t needs special quail
tiles and special effort quite other than the
average range of hospital devotion is OBJ
vious But II saves time in the end, and
without II success is more than doubtful.
The crucial period Is the time spent in u Q
hospital Use that period to recreate not
only body. but mind and will power, and all
shall come out right; neglect to use 1t thus
and the heart of many sufferer Will break
from sheer disbursement.
"a niche of usefulness and self-respect ex-
lists for every man, however handicapped !:
but that niche must be found for him. To
carry the process of restoration to point
short of this Is TO leave the cathedral with
out a spire.
"Only by revivifying in each separate dis
abled soldier the will TO live can you save
him from the fate of merely continuing to
exist. The more drown the disabled in
tea and lip gratitude the more we unsteel
his soul. and the harder we make II for him
to win through. when, in the years to come.
the wells of our tea and gratitude have dried
up"
When last fall a group of Philadelphia
women decided to establish the School of
Occupational Therapy, the Philadelphia
sylyania Museum and School of Industrial
Art offered the of their buildings and
equipment, and their corps of teachers pa
triotically volunteered their services to train
the pupils. The first course was given con-
Jointly by two schools Beginning February
1, the full course will be given exclusively
at the School of Design,
Mrs. Edgar W. Baird, state chairman of
the National League for Woman's Service,
and Mrs. A. II, Reeve are honorary chair
men of the School of Occupational Therapy.
Mrs. III. Gordon McCouch is chairman and
Mrs Frederick w Rockwell is vice chair
man Mrs. John Macarthur Harris. secretary
Miss Margaret A. Neall, corresponding secre-
tary; Mrs. F. w. Clark. treasurer
The board of directors includes William G.
Ash Miss Alice Bodne, Mrs. Henry c. Boyer,
Dr. Charles W. Burr, chairman Personnel
Committee: DR.. Elizabeth +. c. Clark Miss
s Lillian Clayton, DR.. owen Copp. Dr. Joseph
Doane Miss Mary p. Dow, o. f. Ege. Miss
Helen Fleisher S. s. Flesher Miss Florence
w. Fulton, Dean Frank +. Graves, chairman
Curriculum Committed; Dr. w. w. Keen.
Dr. Wilmer Krusen. Miss Beulah johnson,
Dr. Warren p Laird. DR.. II. TAFT Mckenzie,
chairman Medical Committee; Mrs. II. TAFT
Mckenzie. Mrs. Harrison s. Morris. Mrs.
Horace Peck, Miss Emily Sartain, Miss Har-
riet Sartain, Miss Elma ii. Schick, Mrs.
James Starr. Miss Eleanor Stewardson, How
ard +, Stratton.