U.S. Advances In Treating Disabled

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30178, 9 July 1963, Page 2

U.S. Advances In Treating Disabled

Returning to the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York after five years, Miss Man’ McLean, a Christchurch physiotherapist, was amazed at the advances made in meeting the entire needs of the disabled.

The institute, which is a unit of the New York University - Bellevue Medical Centre, was primarily concerned with human values—the achievement of maximum independence for each individual, that he may learn to live within the limits of his disability but to the hilt of his capability. "The most important person in the rehabilitation team is the patient,” she said. Whole Person Treated The unit's programme of total rehabilMahon was geared towards meeting the needs of the whole person, she said. Equal emphasis was given to the patient's physical condition. his emotional adjustment, his relationship to the world around him

The patient's rehabilitation programme was designed to meet his total needs "'from bed to job.” she said On admission every patient was given a complete physical, psychological. social and vocational evaluation, including speech and hearing when indicated, and a test for proficiency in the activities of daily living. After the patient’s daily programme had been fitted to meet his own particular needs, its ultimate success was in his own hands, she said. Results were in proportion to his own desire to

make the most of himself, and ins own determination.

"The institute recognises no special disease of old age. Doctors tell elderly patients to keep walking, moving, and to maintain an • interest in something specific. They say: ‘Don’t sit down and play bridge too often or ride in cars when you can walk’,” Miss McLean said.

President Kennedy was a patient at the institute for treatment for a back ailment within the last few years. Miss McLean spent most of her time in children's wards when she visited the Shriner Hospital in Honolulu. There, as at the New York institute, rehabilitation exercises were based on natural movements