Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-12-04
VERMONT TAKES LEAD
IN POLIO AFTER.CARE
Clinics Throughout State Have
Done Much for Crippled Chill.
dren-Separate School May
Be Established for Them
Nine New Cases in 1919

| Vermont leads the country in the after
care of patients afflicted with poliomy-
elitis. sometimes called infantile paralysis.
This fact is now admitted. Nowhere
| in the United States is there in operation
such an efficient system of folow-up work
in caring for the unlucky victims of this
dread disease. Every case which can bc
located is given special care and the work
Is continued until cure is effected, or
the case ia beyond hope, and very few
cases get beyond hope when they arc
taken in time.
| This after-care Of polomyelitis cases
in Vermont Is now in charge of Miss
Bertha r. wcisbrod, a graduate nurse
with much experience in this line, and
DR.. w. l.. Aycock, who has had charge
of the State research laboratory for
poliomyelitis since the first of June. Miss
Wesbrod took charge Of the a.fter-care
work In Vermont the first Of May. Both
mako their headquarters in the State
Board Of Health building in this city.
Since the first of May Is clinics have
been held in the state for the treatment
OF patients suffering from the effects of
poliomyelitis. At these clinics, which
were held In Burlington, Rutland. Mont
peier, st. Adams. st. Johnsbury, Barton
and Barre. 4o3 treatments have been given.
This does not mean 403 separate cases. as
three separate clinics were held In some
of the cities mentioned. so that the same
patients were treated more than once in
some case. The clinics were held in May,
July and November Their importance
cannot he overestmated
So great an Importance has this af-
ter-care work, which is carrier on as
a department Of the State Board of
Health. assumed in Vermont. that the
establishment of school for crippled
children is now being seriously con-
templated. 1t is quite probable that such
a school may be opened in the State
some time in 1920.
This school, If established will be
open to crippled children of all ages.
regardless of whether they became
crippled through poliomyelitis, or In
some other way. 1t will probably be
conducted under the supervision Of
polio specialists, however, and the chill
dren will be given medical attention
as well as the regular lessons which
they would get in a first class graded
school
The advantages of such a school are
many. 1t has been found that crippled
children have much trouble in going to
the public schools If they live in the
country, 1t is especially hard for them
to get to school for they must be car
ried, even for a short distance IF there
are any steps to get up and down at
the school, the crippled child has to
have assistance.
Then. top. it has been found that
crippled children get along much bet
ter where there are several of them
together than they do where they are
allowed to mix with other children
Each child that is crippled, when with
other crippled children, sees what the
other Children can do and make much
more of an attempt to do likewise than
II he were with children who are not
crippled. The common misfortunes
seem to strengthen crippled children
to work together for their general
good.
Also, in a school for crippled children.
pupils are watched more closely, given
more individual attention, with the idea
Of finding out just what each child is
best fitted for, in he may have to
be a cripple for life. OF course, in
school Of this kind, it will be much easier
to give children the medical attention
which they need. Such a school, il es-
tablished, will not be restricted to children
of school age, but will include any child
who Is crippled.
AS a part of the work which has been
carried on in the clinics throughout the
State, 6s patients have been fitted with
braces or other corrective apparatus; q
have been operated upon In Boston, New
York, or in Vermont hospitals and ap-
proXimately 300 visits have been made to
the homes Of patients.
In past years all corrective apparatus
for the patients was manufactured in
Boston, but this year, through an ar
| with a pDrpe eripp do art.
ment of the University Of Vermont. all
corrective apparatus is being made in
the university shops. This arrangement
is proving much more satisfactory.
Most of the operations performed on
children, where it was thought best to
take the children outside the State. were
performed at the children's hospital in
Boston. DIR. Robert w Lovett, surgeon
to that hospital and a physician of long
experience with poliomyelits. has taken
n great interest in the handling of the
disease in Vermont and has written
book on polio based largely on his work
with the disease in this State. DIR. Low
EFT spent a large part of the month of
July in Vermont and the polio clinics con-
Quoted throughout the State that month
were in his charge.
Besides the after-care of those suffer-
ing from the effects of tuberculosis
much is being done in the State to elm
mate the disease entirely. The research
work is still being carried on at the
State laboratory in the College OF Medi-
cine, Dr. Aycock being in charge. This
work is a continuation of that started in
1914 under the direction of DR.. II. L.
Amoss of the Rockefeller Institute.
Through DR. Aycock's department, a
close watch is being kept for cases OF
poiomyeltis and the moment a sus-
pcious case appears, DR.. Aycock imme
diately visits the patient and goes into
a close diagnosis of the case. Any
cases which show developments toward
a real case of polio are segregated to
prevent the spread of the disease. and
each patient is given careful treatment
from the moment of discovery.
Through these preventative means. much
has been accomplished. DR.. Aycock and
those associated with him do not claim
: that they have the disease entirely under
control, but they feel that the State is
in much better position to-day to fight
the disease than 1t has ever been be-
fore. Although there may be epdemics
of polio in the future in Vermont, as
the disease is very strange one and
breaks out in unlocked for places, these
epidemics will be fought with much
greater knowledge of the disease than