Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-11-10

Washington, Nov. l.-Patients in .iJ
| government hospitals are having work
prescribed for them for curative pur-
poses.
The ward doctor making his round
| stops at the bed of a man recovering
from broken arm.
"A little stiff" comments the doctor.
| Need something to loosen you up"
And he pulls out a large blank, and
checks it in various places SO that it
prescribes one hour a day of light crafts
work in the ward, as a therapeutic
measure.
/ The blank is turned over to a re-
| construction aide, who proceeds diplo-
matically to find out if the patient has
any interest in weaving, drawing, bask-
etry. Or wood-carving. If he is apa-
| thetic, she tries to arouse his interest
gradually, without making him feel that
| he is being forced. Usually cases Of ex-
treme depression car be reached and
benefited by hand work of some sort
or another. san
At first many doctors in the hospitals
were skeptical of the physical good to
| be derived from pounding with hammer
or designing a book cover. But con-
E-fronted with statistics from their own
hospitals and seeing the effect on the
ratients in their care, the government
physicians have nearly all been con-
verted to firm belief in occupational
| therapy.
This method of treatment doubtless
| reminds you of the work done in the
army hospitals, by reconstruction aides.
| and it is an outgrowth of that, though
different in many ways. The idea start
ed years ago, when some hospitals and
similar institutions had convelsecent pa
tients do light work, as much for help
to the institution as for the exercise it
gave the patient. Then, some Is years
before the war, two or three civilian
hospitals Obtained workers who could
teach patients handicrafts to emrloy
muscles from getting stiff from ideness
Grew Out of War;
There the matter stayed until during
the war it became an institution IN the
army and navy hospitals as educational
and reconstructive work with the idea
of giving mutilated men some new inter
est and useful occupation. But all this
time. there was no definite system
developed showing the relative curative
values of the different types of work.
This is being worked out now In the
hospitals of the public health service,
and the surgeons in charge say that
they are just beginning to see the possi-
bilities Of work as therapy
Adaptation of the work to the individ-
ral is extremely important, according 70
DIR. Hugh S. Cumming surgeon general
of the public health service. Unless he
is guided in selection of work, the active
tubercular patient may be attracted by
heavier work than is considered to be
beneficial, such as carpentry
Basket work with large reeds often
fits in we'll with excitable mental cases.
A simple pattern with no complications
of elaborate design or unusual shape Is
given them. because the monotony OF
weaving round and round without much
need for thought has a quieting effect.
The active tunercular patient. on the
other hand. is rarely given reed work.
as it requires considerable effort. But
he can make intricate designs in raftla
basketry, as this type of work keeps
the mind fully occupied, but does not
require very great exertion on the part
of the patient. :.
These are crude classifications, and
the doctors are well aware OF 1t. AS
time goes on. however, they expect TO
study the cases in more detail IN ofaet
to know more accurately the value OF
motion and effort used in the crafts ana
in different kinds of garden work
a Mental Help.
DR.. Maddox explains that the curative
influence Of suitable oceuPa,ioh 10
more often mental than physicai
There are nearly always in hos
pital," he says. "a few patients who are
inclined to argue about everything. Ii
won can set one of these men to follow
YOUR instructions in folding paper puz-
zle, or threading needle. you have got
him to take orders. and he will be that
much more tractable when it comes to
matters of medicine and diet.
Then, many hospital patients become,
depressed and morbid from lying idle
during a long convalescence. For one
of these gloomy patients who is able TO
get about, the doctor would prescribe
some kind of work to be taken in the
hospital workshop. At first, perhaps, the
patient is only wheeled down to the shop
to watch the other men at work, as a
diversion. Then, he is drawn into the
conversation of the whiting, joking
workmen. and in few days he is at
work, and one Of them