Value Of Occupational Therapy In Hospitals

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30313, 13 December 1963, Page 2

Value Of Occupational Therapy In Hospitals

It is difficult for a busy, active person to imagine the hopeless tedium of empty time. But hundreds of men, women and children in New Zealand, who are unable to take part in normal living because of illness or disability, spend day after day doing little more than gazing vacantly at nothing in particular.

Give them an absorbing interest within their capabilities and an existence warms into a satisfy ing life.

Tonic occupational therapy is doing just this in institutions and private homes for countless aged and chronically sick persons. Remedial occupational therapy goes even further. It re-educates muscles, helps maintain movement and physical fitness, helps patients adjust to hospital life and brings them some contact with the outside world.

The occupational therapy l department at Burwood Hos-' prtal yesterday afternoon was one of the few places in j Christchurch that did not i teem to be under the strain ■ of a pre-Chnstmas rush.: Patients worked steadily at' their handwork, making toys for Christmas gifts for friends, embroidering, making leether moccasins or typing. I All of them were handicapped by a physical disability, a, cnronic disease or recovering from an accident, but they laughed easily and took peins with their work, un- i hurried by the thought ofi a commercial deadline E. Austin, for instance, was making a rug from raw. wool on a loom with the i attention to detail of a real, civfuwoman. Working at the ; loom developed weak shoulder muscles, the charge i therapist (Miss H. Gamsford • | explained. This "treatment”’ helped her in getting in and out of bed. in maintaining balance and also assisted physiotherapy. This patient also does cane*

i work, which prevents her ' hands from stiffening. Craft brings her many contacts I outside the wards. I Mr Jim Fry, who is an excellent weaver, has won many i prizes in A. and P. shows, beating completely fit com- | petitors. At Burwood Mr 1 Fry is kept busy typing and compiling the hospital’s bulletin. He uses an electric typewriter, hitting the keys with a hammer as his fingers are rigid. Mr Jack Richards is a crossstitch expert who has advanced to creating his own patterns. Beca ise of the effects of Parkinson’s disease on his hands, the embroidery has to be fixed on a frame set before his chair. "Mr Richards will try! anything new in handwork which comes to the department.” Miss Gainsford said. “These three long - term patients were here when I came, eight years ago.” The occupational therapy service operates in many hospitals. homes and centres in the city, including Christchurch, Princess Margaret.

Burwood, Coronation and Sunnyside Hospitals, Templeton Hospital and Training School, the Cerebral Palsy School and in centres for the aged and the physically handicapped. Occupational therapists also visit some invalids in their own homes. Until the end of 1962 it was an important part of the 1 programme of the New Zeai land Foundation for the Blind in Christchurch. But : the foundation has not been I abel to replace the thera- : pist who left to be married j a year ago. because of the ; shortage of women trained lin this work. Calvary Hos- : pital also needs one for its day clinic. Every hospital would like to expand this service, but all are short of staff. The Christchurch Hospital has only four trained staff, three of whom are leaving soon—two aids and one student. This is the largest occupational therapy department in Christchurch, dealing with from 100 to 120 patients a month. The number includes out-patients as well as in-patients and a few psychiatric patients. Miss Gainsford has only two assistants to teach about 80 patients a month. A parttime woodwork instructor recently joined the department, she said. Satisfying Career The work was varied and most satisfying as a career for a girl who liked people and sharing their pleasure in improvement, she added. Hospitals could do with twice as many occupational therapists as they have. “There are only 108 practising occupational therapists in New Zealand, and just over 100 in training at the school in Auckland. We could do with 100 more,” she said. Because of a shortage of tutors also, it did not seem likely that a second school would be opened in the South Island in the immediate future, said Miss Gainsford.