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How England Does It: Britain's Approach To The Problem Of "Crippledom"

Creator: Grace K. Townsend (author)
Date: August 1933
Publication: The Polio Chronicle
Source: Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation Archives

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"We have," the Secretary of the Central Council for the Care of Cripples writes, "the beginnings of a fairly complete scheme for the welfare of cripples in England," and she says, "The Central Council is working steadily to extend the work so as to cover the whole country with a network of complete orthopaedic units."

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Poliomyelitis is not treated as a separate problem in that coutry -sic- but is dealt with in the orthopaedic hospitals with the other crippling diseases, congenital defects, etc.

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The Central Council for the Care of Cripples, located at Carnegie House, 117 Piccadilly, London, is a federation of local organizations there. It was founded by Sir Robert Jones in 1919 for the purpose of organizing a national scheme to deal with the cripple problem as a whole throughout the United Kingdom, with their main objectives:

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(a) to organize the provision of facilities for the early discovery and the prompt and efficient treatment of children who would otherwise become cripples.

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(b) to promote schemes for the treatment, education, training, employment, and general welfare of all cripples.

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(c) to assist in the formation of local Associations to carry out these objectives.

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(d) to investigate the causes of crippling and to promote and support measures for their elimination.

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(e) to act as a central coordinating body for all organizations working for the benefit of cripples and as a central bureau of information on all matters which concern the welfare of cripples.

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They list four "cardinal points" in their policy: prevention, early discovery, treatment, education, and vocational training. The Council estimates that through prevention the present cripple population might have been 80% less than it is. Prompt and efficient care, through early discovery, could have cured or alleviated the results of infantile paralysis, rickets, and tuberculosis. Early discovery is second in importance only to prevention, for without it much deformity will undoubtedly result. After discovery, treatment is made possible by comprehensive network of orthopaedic hospitals and clinics which covers the whole of England. It is interesting to note that many of the hospitals are in the open air, outside the cities.

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The English seem to be more consistent than we in recognizing that, no matter what age the cripple may be, it is important that he have the education of a normal person. Their program takes the individual through preparatory education into vocational training and ultimate employment. Many children between the ages of five and sixteen years receive educational training in orthopaedic Hospital Schools where they are taught in the wards. They have various forms of handicraft as well as elementary teaching. G. R. Girdlestone, of Oxford, head of the Wingfield-Morris Orthopaedic Hospital, in his book, "The Care and Cure of Crippled Children," says "We know that education is an essential companion of long-continued treatment; treatment and education in long cases now always go on together."

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The Central Council proposes to aid the efforts of local Training and Employment Committees for the handicapped by collecting and distributing information of every kind bearing on the training and selling department to buy materials required for training establishments and workshops, to arrange for the sale of the goods manufactured and to advise as to the classes of commodities which can be most advantageously produced and sold.

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The main functions of these Local Training and Employing Committees are to ascertain exactly what is being done in the area in the way of training and employing of cripples; to explore the trades and industries there with a view of finding openings and also to determine the training which shall be provided; to arrange for visiting teachers to instruct those who must work in their homes, and arrange for the sale of goods made in the area, preferably locally, but where necessary through the central organization.

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Several orthopaedic workshops in England supply splints and appliances beyond the requirements of their own hospital. One training center makes and repairs mattresses to order. The hospital of that country may come to look to orthopaedic workshops in their own areas to supply various needs.

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The Council finds that some individuals stand a fair chance of making good with assistance in the form of advice and help in obtaining employment, others are only capable of working at particular work in special centers or in their own homes under medical supervision, while a fourth group has to be considered in the light of occupational rather than economic employment.

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The English emphasize after-care for crippled workers and urge that each one be examined at intervals by a surgeon to determine the effects of the work upon his disability. They feel that the workers themselves must be made to understand the importance of attending the orthopaedic clinics provided throughout the country so that breakdowns may not result.

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