Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-12-07

Miss Mary Gaines Who
is Teaching For Gov
ernment in Idaho.
U. S. P. H. S. H.. No. 50,
1 Boise, Idaho.
my Dear Home-People:
Today is Armistice Day. l have
jjust been reading an account of cere'
monies at Washington, D. c., for the
unknown soldier, brought to oul
Capital ON the ship Olympia" This
account with the fact that 1 was in
washington on the first Armistice
Day, and with the work in which
have since been engaged brings the
whole significance of this day before
me in startling, burning truths; and
as / read this article a great feeling
of mingled sadness and happiness
fills me; the sadness, to degree, is
prompted by my present work in the
Public Health Service Hospital No.
SO. For the past year and four
monthe, / have been in close con-
tact with the nlangled, demented,
wounded, and shell-shocked victims,
left in the wake of the ruthless march
! of the Hun; fine physical specimens
| of manhood cut down in the prime of
their usefulness, legless, armiess or
dying a slow death on earth from 7.
B. "bugs" as a result of gas and ex-
posure. Then there is the highly or
ganized, taut-nerve type, whose
brains were of too fine mechanism to
stand the awful strain of the long
months of tension, or who have be-
come shell-shocked; a thread has
snapped, or a wheel lost its balance
these are our mental patients.
But all this sounds too much like
many of the articles you read every
day in magazines, and should be put
in the back ground as much as pos
sible. The job that we are facing
here land in other Public Health Ser
vice Hospitals, over the country is
the work of Rehabilitation; in other
words helping the man to find him
self, and to become useful citizen
again.
:sae 5gork lis alone the Line of yozz .o'z
cational training, which was former
ly under the Federal Board, but since
the passage of the Sweet Bill, is un-
der the Veterans Bureau. Besides
assisting the man in establishing his
eligibility for re-training in line of
work in which his handicap will be no
obstacle, we try to give him some
thing while he is in the hospital, that
will be foundation for his training
after leaving the hospital, or will be
of therapeutic value in his recovery.
The work proper, at this hospital
is in charge of a college man as Di-
rector, and two assistants; Miss Kir-
by, from Vermont has charge of the
Commercial work, and I, of Edgefeld,
S. c., the English. We have two de-
partments, one for the men of the
T. B. hospital, and one for surgical,
medical and nerve patients. Our
equipment consists of kitchen tab IS
and chairs, and cast-away desks l4om
the Senate Office. The name is the
Vocational School, but one Of the
men has given it the more popular
nickname of the "Nollidge Shop for
Ex-Service Bone-heads."
Most of the nerve cases are the
mental patients, or "goophs" as the
men call them. If we can get these
men in school, and get them to do
some arithmetic, spelling or copy a
letter to send home, and repeat this
for several days, it gets his thought
anchored to something "earthy," and
is great factor in his recovery. One
man came to us who had absolutely
lost the power of memory. We got
him interested in bookkeeping and
reproduction work in English, His
improvement was so rapid that after
being here six months, he was put in
vocational training as an accountant
under Section 2, of the Act; this
means that the man is given books,
tuition and $1OO per month, if he is
single; or more in proportion if he
has wife and children. Another case
/ is that of splendid fellow, a civil
engineer, before going into sel,ice,
whose mind was a wreck from she'll
shock. At first he would only talk in
monosyllables, stare stupidity into