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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

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530  

Even if a man is reluctant to enter upon a long term of treatment, a short period under regular medical supervision will do him a great deal of good, in that he will learn how to protect others from infection at his hands, and will become acquainted with the principles of fresh air, food, sleep, and the like which he can follow out after his return home in the form of self-treatment. In other words, he will learn the factors upon which recovery from tuberculosis depends, and will have become accustomed in some degree to the daily regime. It is largely for this reason that the Surgeon General of the Army has ruled that all tuberculous soldiers must be retained under treatment for at least three months.

531  

Ever since it has been demonstrated that occupational therapy is of great value in the treatment of the most varied disabilities, the question of its possible value in the treatment of tuberculosis has been the subject of no little debate. Many American and German specialists have maintained that if a permanent arrest of lung-disease is to be secured, a prolonged period of rest must be taken by the patient and that this rest must be ''surgical rest" as long as active symptoms continue or so long as fever persists. English specialists, however, appear generally to believe in prescribing a considerable amount of vocational work in all except the hopeless cases, and as soon as the patient who has a "chance" loses the most distressing symptoms. The exercise prescribed is at first walking only, but "such monotonous occupation is gradually replaced by light and useful work, increased little by little until at last, before their discharge, the most favorable cases do six hours' hard navvy work a day."

532  

There can be no doubt that some forms of occupational activity are of great advantage in the treatment of the tuberculous soldier, if only for psychological reasons. For there is a difference between the frame of mind in which a civilian afflicted with the disease enters upon the treatment, and the attitude of the soldier who is sent to a sanatorium. It has been reported, for instance, that in the Canadian military hospital at Ste. Agathe des Monts, Quebec, "on account of the excitement, danger, and adventure of their life at the front" the invalided soldiers "were not only indifferent to the ordinary methods of treatment" -- prolonged rest, followed, after many months, it may be, by gradually increased "doses" of mild exercise -- "but openly rebellious against such methods." Within six months of the opening of this sanatorium, one-third of the soldiers had refused to continue the treatment, and fifteen per cent, had to be dismissed for "open insubordination usually terminating in drunkenness." After this experience, treatment along vocational lines, less strenuous than that advocated by the English experts, was resorted to, and with very satisfactory results. Enthusiasm for the treatment has replaced the former indifference, insubordination has been reduced to less than two per cent., and instead of refusal of treatment, there have been applications for extension of time to permit vocational courses to be completed.

533  

This experience makes it clear that the tuberculous soldier presents a special problem, in that methods to which a civilian submits voluntarily and without a murmur become dangerous because of their psychological effect on the average soldier, the prolonged rest seeming nothing more than enforced idleness, leading therefore to irritation, depression, discontent, boredom, and frequently to sudden rash acts. Obviously, all these undesirable results can do more to delay improvement than a system of well-regulated occupational therapy possibly can.

534  

The soldiers' sanatorium at Ste. Agathe, Canada, is typical of many establishments that have been founded the world over to care for the unprecedented numbers of disabled soldiers. Ste. Agathe is a sleepy, picturesque French-Canadian hamlet four hours' train journey into the hills and forests northwest of Montreal; before the war it had its summer colony, its winter sports, its inn, and a sanatorium for tuberculous civilians. In the winter of 1916, the inn was taken over for the treatment of tuberculous soldiers by the Canadian government, and converted into a sanatorium with a capacity of seventy-six beds. Since that time, the other sanatorium, which still has its quota of civilian patients to care for, has placed fifty beds at the disposal of the military. After the experience to which reference has been made, the military hospital was provided with specially designed workshop and school buildings.

535  

In accordance with common sanatorium practice, the soldier-patients at Ste. Agathe are divided into three classes. The first class consists of infirmary cases, in whom the disease is in its acute stage; they are confined to bed until the distressing symptoms disappear. Under careful supervision, these patients are permitted to beguile the tedium of the sick room with knitting, drawing, crocheting, cardboard work, raffia weaving, and study.

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