Evening star., 1924-11-30
RADIO BR|NCSEASE
FROM SUFFER|NGS
Mental Medicine Provided for
Broken Ones in
Hospitals.


tomical Ethiopian, Walter Reed Hos
pital now has got nothing but"
Good cheer is there, in spite of all
he pain, the agony and the wracked
md tortured bodies. some OF which,
"lingtnE tenaciously to life. have been
'i&htipG the good fight since a Ger
lAan blow laid them low in France.
Where. does ii come, this cheer?
The RoXie radio
Colul'ns already have been indited
s encomium to the good which the
radio plant installed at Walter Reed
Hospital has accomplished. but the
half has not yet been told---;n fact.
II is doubtful if ever the golden good
can ever be told III its entirety.
Radio Doesn't Pail.
To the motor-mad. morie-f fan. jazz
crazy public. which has full articuls-
lion of all it's proper joints, the ap
neal of radio may palk At times K
does. But suppose you had been on
lour back In bed since l9lSi
Out in that great hospital where
The Army's valiant sufferers pie weary
day upon day, in the land Of
counterpane" clincing 10 hope, trying
TO forget the gnawing ache. the radio
has come into its very own, as
blessed harbinger of peace, and JOY
and cheer. 1t has bathed bedeviled
minds in the soothing waters of
Lethe, and, taking unto itself almost
the magic properties of mental
;tnesthetic, has banished. at least the
mental suffering and made the lads
10 forget for while, their besetting
rial
Out Of the ether waves. and the
hearts of generous givers came this
blessing. 1t cost more than $4,000
TO buy the parts alone. 1t was in
stalled by personnel at the hospital.
and is operated by them. And the
cost of upkecp is provided by the
same generous Roxy radio fund which
installed it.
First of Kind In L. =.
First in the Nation. perhaps first
in the world was this installation
throughout an institution, or to the
hedside or recreation hall for every
patient in a great hospital. Already
The Walter Reed plant has been
hailed a model. according TO those
who know. and the general principles
which were turned into glorious fact
there for the first time, are now be-
ing employed throughout the country
as the good work spreads to other
institutions.
What do medical and other au-
thorities in charge of Army hospitals
think of the radio as an adjunct to
the ministrations of pathology?
Briefly, they feel it has been a def
mite, practical help. At Walter Reed,
for instance, where the experiment
has now been going on longest, since
last Spring. II IS known that the
spirits of the patients throughout the
institution have undergone a complete
change. In the quietly conservative
words of great physician who
knows, the boys are much more
cheerful"
How much that means can only be
conjectured. 1t cannot be measured
in degrees on the thermometer; 1t
perhaps escapes note on the clinical
record. But it may be measured in
days. Perhaps there are many who
will rise from bed days earlier be-
cause of radio. No doubt there are
many to whom days of introspection
and nights of self-pity and pain have
been turned into at least relative
happiness
Patients Stay at "HOme."
Again, reports at Walter Reed show
that patients stay home" in the hos
pital grounds more than they did be-
fore the headset and the loud speaker
came to stay. This means that the
boys who are able to be up and about,
but who are still in such condition as
TO need disqualification, are less res
tive. Jones stays at the hospital and
listens to the radio at his bedside, or
goes to the Red Cross house to see a
motion picture, with lively radio mu-
sic from the loud speaker, and goes
10 bed early. The treatment which
he is receiving daily does him much
more good. it is said. than if he press
ed for every advantage of the pass"
privilege and rambled around town.
But the greatest good, according to
authorities, accrues to the bedfast
hoy. Especially to those who have
h"en in pain on their backs for
lengthy periods, does the radio come
with its most helpful benefit.
From this point suppose we take up
ihe story from the boy himself. Come. |
IN imagination. to 4 surgical ward at |
Walter Reed, with a visitor bent on |
ilnding from the boys themselves !
some evidence, If any there be, OF !
what radio has done.
Here are two long rows Of high |
white beds. 1t is afternoon. Some |
Of them are occupied. The va.ant |
beds are spotless emblems Of hope
cithcr occupants have recovered suf- !
iiclent1y to be up and out, or their |
prospective occupants have not yet |
been laid low.
But the occupied ones! Arms and I!
legs and backs and sides. here are all |
heing treated by the best that science |
mas to offer TO render them once more
useful. Many are bone injuries. These |
painfully protracted cases, say the |
doctors. are those who especially ap-
preciate the help of radio.
One Soldiers Stay.
There IS a soldier with his leg
bound up in the. bandage whicn t...'s
OF longtime confinement, and serious
they say. Let him, for one, tell the
world about Roxy's radio.
It's stroy OF intense pain His
injury was not of the war. but 1t
dropped him like d shot and finally |
got into the bone-no matter about |
The details, here. He tells OF the suf-
fering as he came to the hospital Tie
pain was so great he swooned away. |
All was black. His head was in a
swirl. When he came out of the coma
there was the all enveloping agony. |
lie was so sick he scarcely knew
where he was. They told him 1t was
tho voice Of "Roxie."
'Roxie?" That didn't mean anything
TO him, at first. He didn't know
Roxie. But he heard a voice, a won
derful voice. full Of smiles, and an
unearthly radiant happiness. It eased
the pain.
Buddy" says the lad to his visi-
tors. his eyes brimming. "let me tell
YOU that VOICE was like a voice out
of heaven"
It> was only the beginning. He
soon found out that it was Roxie who
had made possible the head set at his
bed and the marvellous reception
plant which was taking Roxie's voice
and many others to every bed in the