THE VALUE OF ORTHOPEDICS

Evening Star, Issue 16782, 10 July 1918, Page 8

THE VALUE OF ORTHOPEDICS

[By K. VY. (iuivufU, in liso ' Scots' Pictorial.)

Bellnliouston ! It sounds ordinary, yet ■; I is the name of the spleudid Ked Cross ins>! itution in Glasgow. Tlie other day I spent ( a crowded hour in tins wonderful place, ami i lufl it. with a sincere admiration for tin. officials, doctors, nurses, and instructors; indeed, for nil who art carrying it on. Here one receives assurance that our soldier lioys are wo!l eared for, and discover*; lOil inventions for tire rebuilding of the shallered human frames. Indeed, a firs I visit ioliellahoustou was. to me something akin to IVtrr Pan, especially irr the curative workshop.-. and iu the orthopaedic department. Genius, science, art, cunning, and camouflage- are. all pressed into the business uf making a cripple confident, and convincing a neurotic that the sun still shines and that (he world has yet a welcome for a man alio will place mind above inati • r. Institutions reflect their rulers. I'cllahouston is therefore a picture uf the patriotism and labors of Colonel Harold Chaffer iwho is brother-in-law of 3lr W. F. Edmond, of Dunedin) and hi.s staff. I plunged from tho dall things of Paisley roud into a work-s-liiH> where the soldiers diem, twisted, brcktu, and disjointed) found new thottghtß, fresh aims in creating splints, locks, mils, bolts, bars, artistic panels;, and oftiee furniture out of wooden planks, salmon tins, soap boxes, horseshoes, and even hairpins. Colonel Chaffer, like aIJ enthusiasts, beamed n*nl expanded over his dirties and his dreams. "Everything here," he said, is made by men with crippled hands." lie insisted on this again and again. This gives l)[ie fl"' '' ol '" rect perspective, tints enabling one to appreciate th" marveir. of sympathetic and intelligent training. Fortunately, -Mr K. ■lowctt is si brilliant manual instructor: hence the wonderful results achieved. In another room I found au artistic genius in Sir John Sharp presiding over plaster casts, colored pictures of one's anatomy, aird a most, wonderful plaster and woodwork model of Bellahou-iion in miniature. Mr Sharp must surely be Sum I a Olaus himself. The. Glasgow Coriioratiou ought to buv this wonderful model for the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery. The aim or I 1'" cork.-.'op is punitive, and curative all the time. ilea have grown i-iei: of the old-fashioned and stupid method of liftin.it weighrs, turning wheels, pulling elastic bauds, and twiddling 'heir thumbs. It is useless r-nplcvimr the crippled hands iinU-ss (.tje bniin ;md emotions lire brought into n!ay. Clever students of psychology say: " Mate litem interested: give them a plane, a hammer, a. knife, or a carving chisel. Set out a job—an interesting job. Rouse the artistic and competitive spirit. and the man with the almost panilvsed muscles, nerves, or limbs will .gradually (and abno-l unconsciously') begin to discover that the ' hopeless' joints arc bending, the muscles working, and the nerves becoming Clothed and natural once again." Is this noi tho triumph of common sense and the death of pauperdom, so far as tire crippled soldier is concernedP NniT it is my turn to criticise. This good work is not being followed up by the local Wtir Pensions Comuiiure. Apparently, when a man leaves a hospital like Hellahoustoir In go on pension, all Ibis progressive I raining almost ends. Ti slioufd and must be continued. We hear a great deal of talk in the Press about what is being done. .Hut Mr John Hodge, M.T'.. must put gunpowder beneath the scats of the rnightv "War Pensions Committee. Should they fail, we shall find the.se soldiers drifting into dreaming, non-productive, perhaps trouble-making neurotics. -Sympathy is all very well, but sympathy without firm and intelligent- re-education is useless. In short, our local pension committees iniisr, get on or—get out. The men who have fought must be saved from the barrel-organ and—themselves. Iu the orthopedic department 1 was greatly struck by the hundred-aiul-one contrivances used to restore vim to tho muscles and nerves of the body. "Wonderful balks, electric light cures, and all the other scientific machinery of to-day. Bang up to date! Tin* last word in push and go. so far a-s laymen can see. How we have advuneed! When one recalls the surgeons of Waterloo and the Crimea sawing oil' legs ami arms, sticking tar round the stumps, then throwing the cripples our to jhe road and the workhouse, Caere comes a spirit of thankfulness and appreciation. A word as to the nursing: Sister Morrison (the matron), like all the nurses and the V.A.D.s at Bellahousfou, finds work a pleasure and nursinjg an. honorable task. What struck mo about tire turn was their clean, smart, healthy appearance, despite their infirmities. The "atmosphere," therefore, must be all right. . . . What could we do without tho "doctors, the nurses, the V.A.D.s, the instructors (not forgetting the chauffeuso:)? Such devotion! Such patience,! Such enthusiasm: Such loving sympathy and illimitable fa oh ! In I his, the fourth vear of war, it is something to note and wonder at. The energy of tho Ked Cross worker is greater tnnd certainly more experienced) than in 1914. When .1 re.'ail inv journey on a troopship from the Dardanelles, packed with tho maimed, the mail, and the riving, and with onlv a limited hospital staff," I do indeed feel thai we have advanced by leaps and bounds. "Xo one need worrv about their bovs once they are out of the firing line, for the best—the very best —is at their command. Thanks to the generous donors, the. Red Cross snatched, and is snatching, men from the very jaws of death, and fntiding them kindly and intelligently forward to a brighter future and honorable citizenship. Is not this a great- work? Do you appreciate it? Perhaps you are too busy: and it may be that others "are too selfish or itnwillin" to go and see for themselves the kind of work that- is going on. But, Ido insist that the Tied Cross front, is as great its the lighting front. Without it. wo could not carry on ibis war. Yes, without- the Red Cross men would rot on the stricken field, and the crows would peck out their eyes ; I am not a child in this war business. When I recall tho horrors of the epidemic at TJhiemfontein, when men died like flics, and we piled their bodies up in deep pits. I salute modem science and the. splendid philanthropy which has made institutions like Bellahouslou Areadias for (he stricken and th.- maimed. What was my final impres-.-on" It was just this: a wish to be a millionaire, a, desire for the treasures r.f So|,,- „,„,, ro (lu-ov inlo the Inns of l.he-.-e good Samaritans. While the war goes on the Ked Cross runs! go on. It is therefore I he, duty of all to give, and give freely. In the words of KiplingPass the hat for your credit's sake, And Pay, Pay, Pay' [lt is understood that Ike orthtopedie denariment of Ihe Ihmedin Hospital is to be entrusted to Iho care of Drs Marshall, Macdonald, and Sydney Allen.—-Ed. K.S.J