Library Collections: Document: Full Text


The Disabled Soldier

Creator: Douglas C. McMurtrie (author)
Date: 1919
Publisher: The Macmillan Company, New York
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9  Figure 10  Figure 11  Figure 12  Figure 13  Figure 14  Figure 15  Figure 16  Figure 17  Figure 18  Figure 19  Figure 20  Figure 21  Figure 22  Figure 23  Figure 24  Figure 25  Figure 26

Previous Page   Next Page   All Pages 


Page 46:

519  

An unofficial service to cooperate with the government authorities has been organized by the Industrial Union for the Deaf and the Volta Bureau. The objects of this service are to aid men to retain their former powers of speech which are likely to suffer from disuse, to teach them to read the lips as rapidly as possible, to educate employers to a realization of the value of lip-reading and thus pave the way for the employment of the deaf, where some hearing is left to develop and re-educate that hearing in the hopes of possible recovery, and to offer vocational advice to those who must enter new and unaccustomed fields of labor. Facilities for the education of the deaf are excellent in the United States, and all will be at the service of the deafened soldier, should their utilization seem wise.

520  

A rather exceptional opening for the deaf is in plants where the noise is such as to impair the hearing of normal workers. One concern which used to deafen totally or partially each year scores of employees has now stopped the damage by seeking out for the jobs men already deaf, who will suffer, therefore, no further injury. Compensation expense has been cut to a minimum, and deaf candidates for employment are at a premium.

521  

An encouraging augury of the attitude of American employers toward the discharged deafened soldier is the present intelligent utilization of deaf workmen in some of the largest plants. One tire concern, for example, has four hundred employees who cannot hear, and an automobile concern lists three hundred more on its payroll.

522  

With modern provision the transition of the deafened man from the din of the battlefield to profitable employment in industry can be accomplished with difficulty slight indeed.

523  

CHAPTER XI
THE STEP IN TIME

524  

The greatest number of discharges from the army for physical disability for any specific cause is chargeable to pulmonary tuberculosis. The largest number of pensions awarded in Great Britain up to January, 1918, went to men with lung diseases, which accounted for twelve per cent, of the total disability grants made, and by the end of 1917, a total of 20,000 British soldiers had been invalided home for pthisis. The early discharges from our own army in camp and field were of men who had developed a tuberculous condition.

525  

Many of the cases were due to imperfect medical examination at the time of admission to the army, a considerable number of active cases of tuberculosis being passed in the first rush of recruiting and conscription. Some oversights were due to carelessness of medical examiners, others to the fact that it is difficult for a physician without special experience in dealing with the tuberculous to detect cases in the incipient stages.

526  

There was ample warning in the experience of other countries as to the importance of the examination for tuberculosis. Canadian representatives warned that it should have special attention, adding the caution that every case missed would cost the government over five thousand dollars. And care was taken, but in spite of it, a certain number of men slipped through.

527  

The interesting thing about discharges for tuberculosis is that the disease is almost never contracted in the army but is brought in during its active condition or, more frequently, while latent or quiescent. In the latter instance the rigors and exertion of camp life have lighted the sleeping fires and made the case active. While the original infection, therefore, accurately speaking, was not incurred in military service, the state of active tuberculosis was due to army work and would probably not otherwise have existed.

528  

The tuberculous soldier almost universally desires immediate discharge from the army, award of his compensation for disability, and permission to return to his home. This would mean, in almost every instance, that his condition would grow progressively worse rather than better. The ideal arrangement would be for him to remain in the army for treatment until he is cured, or at least until his case is substantially arrested. During the period of care his family will be provided for by the allotment of military pay, and the additional allowances made by the government. The opportunity of free treatment and support of himself and his family until he is cured is one that will never come to him again. Propaganda to educate the public to wisdom regarding the disabled can greatly further the probability of the tuberculous consenting to treatment.

529  

Even though the man knows that it is the best thing for his health, it is hard for him to make up his mind to leave his family for a year or possibly for longer, to go alone to a sanatorium. He may conceivably prefer to take his chances on the question of health and life. The matter is made much the more difficult by the location of some of the military hospitals at, seemingly, the ends of the earth, where it is out of the question that he could ever be visited by his family. Were units for the tuberculous made more accessible, it is likely that the plans for treatment would be more readily acceded to, and the families of the men, seeing with their own eyes from time to time the progress made, would more easily be reconciled to continuance of the treatment.

Previous Page   Next Page

Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72  73  74  75  76    All Pages