CONVALESCENT HOME

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 127, 3 June 1929, Page 8

CONVALESCENT HOME

"A GREAT NEED"

DR. EWEN'S RECOMMEN-

DATION

Tho medical superintendent of tho Wellington Hospital (Dr. H. B. Ewen) drew attention at the last meeting of the Hospital Board to the great need in the city for a convalescent home to which patients could be sent when sufficiently recovered, thus relieving beds in the Hospital for urgent cases. At present there is a convalescent home for women at Oriental Bay, but at times it is too small to accommodate some of the discharged women patients who would bensfit by a short period of convalescence there, and who have no suitable homo to go to. For men there is no convalescent home at all. Often the breadwinner, said Dr. Ewen, has to be discharged from hospital long before he is really fit to return to work, and in many cases he has no private home to go to. In Dr. Eweu's opinion it would be a valuable service to the community if a convalescent horns for men could be established. Dr. Ewen's suggestion has the support of hospital authorities in all countries. As an instance in point it may be mentioned that recently an announcement was made that through anonymous generositiy it has been possible to inaugurate at the Sheffeld Royal Infirmary a valuable scheme'for after-care and convalescence. It had been felt for a long time that the work of the institution was incomplete if it ceased automatically when the patients left the wards. The board considered it the duty of the hospital to gain knowledge of the patient's condition after discharge from the hospital, to co-operate with any and every agency with a view to rapid restoration to health, to help the patient understand the treatment recommended, and to utilise all" the available resources or the securing for the patient an adequate opportunity to convalesce, whether it bo in a special institution for convalescent patients, or at his own home with adequate supervision on the part of visiting nurses. In America, it is becoming generally recognised that a convalescent home is an indispensable complement to the hospital. It is recognised that no hard and fast rule should be laid down with regard to the length of time -that a patient shoul'd-remain in the convalescent home. That varies, of course with the nature and extent of the illness as well as with the recuperative powers of the individual. One medical authority says that two weeks should be considered as the minimum for the average adult, and one month for tho child. The equipment of convalescent homes, it is urged, should aim at corntort without extravagance. The patients, who would be sent to the convalescent home would be those who, ia the opinion of the medical authorities, would benefit by a comparatively brief stay m such an institution before resuming their ordinary occupation. In some hospitals in Great Britain provision is made for intra-mural convalescence. The Columbia-Presbyterian great medical centre, New York has in its scheme a building which is to bo used for this purpose. Under such a scheme patients having passed the acute stage of illness and not requiring the full attention of tho medical and nursing staff are transferred for a temporary stay to a convalescent pavilion from which they are discharged either to their respective homes or to the country convalescent branch.