The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. @.
WoRK WAS A CURE.

1Ae WdrQ dOcloF IddhiHS AA4e HOuAd
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 cut large blank and
checks 1t In various places SO that it
prescribes one hour a day of light
crafts work in the ward, as thera-
peutie 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,
or wood carving. If he is apathetie,
she tries to arouse his interest
gradually. without making him feel
that he Is being forced. Usually cases
of extreme deprss IS OH can be reached
and benefited by hard work of some
sort or other.
At first many doctors in the hos
pital were skeptical of the physical
good to be derived from pounding with
hammer or designing a book cover.
But confronted with statistics from
their own hospitals and seeing the ef-
feet on the patients in their care, the
government physicians have nearly all
been converted to a firm belief in oc-
cupational therapy.
This method of treatment doubtless
reminds you of the work done in the
army hospitals by reconstruction aids,
and 1t is an eutgrowth of that, tho diff
terent in many ways. The idea started
years ago, when some hospitals and
similar institutions had eenvalescent
patients do light work, as much for a
help to the institution as for the exer-
else 1t gave the patient. Then, some
fifteen years before the war, two or
three civilian hospitals obtained
workers who could teach patients
handiefafts to employ their minds, and
perhaps keep their muscles from get
ting stiff from idleness.
Grew Out of War.
There the matter stayed until dur
ms the war it became an institution
in the army and navy hospitals as edu-
cation and reconstructiYe work with
the idea of giving mutilated men some
new interest 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 pos
stbilities of work as therapy.
Adaptation of the work to the indi-
vidual is extremely important, accord
ing TO DR.. Hugh s. Cumming. surgeon
general of the public health service.
Unless he is guided in selection of
work, the active thbercular patient
may be attracted by heavier work than
is considered to be beneficial, such as
carpentry.
Basket work with large reeds often
fits in well with exeitable mental cases.
A simple pattern with no complica-
tons of elaborate design or unusual
shape Is given them, because the
of weaving round and round
without much need for thought has a
affnPf ha a0fixTn fl1harP11l0P
patient, on the other hand, is rarely
given reed work, as it requires con-
effort. But he can make in
tricate designs in raffin basketry, as
this type of work keep 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 we'll aware of it. As
time goes on, however, they expect to
study the cases in more detail, in order
to know more accurately the value
of motion and effort used in the crafts
and in differnt kinds of garden work.
work.
Dr., Maddox explains that the eura-
tive influence of a suitable occupation
is more often mental than physical.
There are nearly always in a, hos
pital," he says, "a few patients who
are inclined to argue about everything.
If you can set one of these men to
follow your instructions in folding a
paper puzzle, or threading needle,
you have got him to take orders ana
he will be that much more tractable
when it comes to matters of medicine
and diet.
Then, many hospital patieAts be-
come depressed and morbid from iy-
ing idle during a long eonyalescence.
For one OF these gloomy patients who
is able to get about, the deeter would
lit nj arlr ia
taken in the hospital workshop. Att
first, perhaps, the patient is only
wheeled down to the shop to watch
the other men at work, as a diver
sion. Then, he is drawn into the con-
versatien of the whiting. joking
workmen, and in a few days ne Is at
work, and one of them"
In the year in which the public
health service has been giving this
kind of treatment, it has found the eff
feet on morale to >be no small part
Of the value of the work done.
The public health service has in Its
charge all the ex-soldiers who need
treatment for physical disability,
When these men were in the army
hospitals they were under orders and
could not go home or back to camp
until discharged by the surgeon. Now.
the men in care of the public health
service are civilians, and have the
right of civilians to leave the hospital
even against the doctors advice Chat
is, unless they are mental patients)
Some of the men have been leaving
sooner than they should because they
tired of the rnonotony of hospital life,
or because they thought they could inn
prove a; rapidly at home or even at
work. Something to do" in these
cases has proved a valuable first aid
toward keeping them contented.
Work Makes Them Contented.
In one hospital, it is reported, where
there were 392 men, 263 were taking
oecupatienal therapy and 12s were not.
Of the 263 only two left the hospital
before they were discharged by the
medical officer, while of the other 12s
IS either deserted or left the hospital
against the advice of the physicians.
OF course, it is not fair to say. from
this that occupational therapy held asa
of these men, or that the IS would
have stayed if they had taken it. But
the records sent in each week from
the public health service hospitals tell
an unvarying story of increasing in