NEW LIMBS FOR OLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17216, 19 January 1918, Page 11

NEW LIMBS FOR OLD

RENOVATING TITE OR]PPLKD. By Guy 11. ScnoiEi'iian. (Special correspondent of tho Empiro Press Union.) LONDON, November 12. Possibly the must important of all the hospitals for tho repair of bodies maimed and sliattered in the wars is that which :s known in ollieial language as "Queen Marv's Convalescent Auxiliary Hospital," but by tho Tommy and uJI who have to do with crippled soldiers as merely "Roehampton."

To mo Roehampton will always seem to bo a. place where a violent revolt of discontented army veterans was suppressed before it broke out, or was even planned. Ono scarcely knows which to admin; tho more —tho obvious efficiency and enthusiasm thrown into tho work of re-equipping the limbless, or tho conmioosenso prcscience which bfought tho whole thing into being betimes, rather than allow thousands of war cripples to carry a heavy burden of grievances back into civil life with them.

Roohampton is commanded by a tall Skyo Highlander, Colonel J. N. MacLeod, CjVI.G., F.R.C.S., and another fact of significance is that ho has associated with him on tho commit.teo representatives of

all the dominions which havo Expeditionary Forces an tho western front. Tho dominions aro co-operating to the full in the schetne, standing in for a share of its benefits, and paying tho wholo amount duo for limbs provided to their unfortunate soldiers. They are al!w, in most cases, sending somo of their men to Roehampton to learn the artificial limb business for tho benefit of the thousands who arc likely to require subsequent attention long after they havo returned to their homes at tho ends of the world. TREATING THE STUMP. Tho only function of Roehampton is to furnish and fit tho new limbs and teach tho men how to uso "them. There is much to be done before a patient is ready for Roehampton at all, and most of this is done at a separate institution at Brighton, or at other hospitals throughout the country specially designated for this work. A stump left after amputation changes a good deal both in fonn and in function. Before tho. war not half a dozen surgeons in Great Britain know anything about tho development of stumps, for tho obvious reason that in a whole life's practice they were not likely to see a sufficient number to learn 'anything definite. But tho war has changed all that. Roehampton alone has passed about 10,000 limbless men through, and has acquired a whole science from actual practice and observation. Stumps left after amputation are- like babies. Every ono is a special case. Even with tho wide experience now gained nobody at Roehampton wpuld pretend to foretell how a stump will develop either in tho months before tho limb is fitted or in the months that follow.

Until the stump is settled down and con sclidated it is useless to do anything about tho futuro limb. All that can bo done is to influence tho settling-down process as favourably as possible by physical exercise and massage, and to pass the patient on to Roehampton, say. in six months from the time of his wound, in such a condition that further chango is not anticipated. 121 most cases nowadays it can be _ fairly judged whether subsequent chango is likely; but here again there is, no rule/ Stumps havo been known to shrink another three inches in diameter after the patient has left tho hospital with his artificial limb. Brighton accommodates about 700 limbless soldiers for the six months' course that is necessary. During this apprenticeship the men, if they have lost a log, hobble about on tho other with tho help of sticks. This in itself produces another complication. The habit of hobbling becomes almost constitutional, and quite often when a man is almost perfectly fitted with an artificial limb he still walks with a gratuitous limp. It is simply a habit acquired during his six months' waiting. MADE ON THE SPOT. There is, of coursfc, no such thing as making artificial limbs to measurement. Each caso being, a special one, the subject must come personally for fitting, and for that siimo reason tho workshops of the private firms which mako tho limbs under contract are situated in tho grounds of the hospital, where the whole process can bo overlooked and supervised by the military authorities. So long as the stump hurts the patient, so long as he finds difficulty in walking about tho makers understand that the .limb must te altered. Payment depends entirely upon the individual case being suited. There are no cut-and-dried standards of perfection. The patient himself must declare himself suited.

On the average it takes about 30 days for a man to learn to use his limb; freely and with comfort; and he actually walks out of Roehampton into civil life a discharged soldier. Tliat is to say, within six or seven months of losing his limb—provided 1 the amputation is clean and there are no complications —the soldier can re-enter civil life able to work. But hero again cach caso is a special ono. It depends much on a man's 1 temperament whether he will mako a good job of a good limb when ho gets it. Somo walk off at onco with complete facility. Others, to quote one of the surgeons, are fighting with their limb for weeks, even months. The orders of tho War Office are that every man is to get the best possible limb at the expenso of tho State, and until they havo gone through a regular courso of walking and can get about decently and easily they are not regarded as suited. Any day one can seo about the grounds of Roehampton men who can jump on their wooden legs, men who can dig and chop wood with a woodon arm; and dozens who defy tho observer to say which is the artificial and which tho natural limb

Ono point which Roehampton says quite frankly will have to be faced Oversea is th© treatment of men whose stumps change after they have returned to their own countries. It is out of the question to establish in some of the dominions such institutions as Roehampton. and Australia— to ta;ko ono example—has already found it necessary to send back to. the Old Country men who obtained pood limbs here, • but whoso stamps have altered and left them a bad fit. To some extent this trouble may be mot by the employment overseas of the men who are now learning- the industry at Roehampton, but this may not bo sufficient, and dominions which have not a largo enough population to maintain limb factories of their own will bo in a quandary. RE-EDUCATION. Two of tho dominions at least—South Africa, and New Zealand —have entered with enthusiasm upon a branch of re-equipment which is a specialty of Roohainpton—namely, tho re-education for industrial life of men who by their wounds have become unfitted to remain at their old occupations. Tho balance are partly men who wish to improve themselves in life, such as general labourers who wish to become artisans or mechanics, and partly men who could not earn wages at their old benches. In many cases they elect to bo taught trades which are established in their own countries or towns, so that they may make their homes amongst their own people, Lancashire men want to study cotton; Notts men Iboofcmaking: men from tho Midlands different branches of iron and steel and motor engineering. Whatever a man wants to learn, Roehampton will provide for liim. Fivo of the staple industries—metal, wood, leather, electricity, ami eommerciid life—have fully equipped shops within the hospital grounds, and while tho men are learning their new means of livelihood they are paid by the State at tho rate of 27s 6d per week, with a bonus at tho end if they make good progress. , It has been found in the shops at Roehampton, and in tho New Zealand shops at Oat hinds, that the old apprentice system has been robbing the country in the most shamcfaced manner. Men who have never touched machine tools in their life before have turned out lathe work here in a few weeks that the average apprentice is not allowed to attempt until tho eve of emerging from his threo or five year indentures. Some have gone, from Roehampton after a few weeks' training, and have earned full money on piece work alongside men who havo been at the bench all their lives. Tho nd iustments of industrial life after the war wiTl have to'.provide recognition for men thus qualified, unless we axe prepared to face the keener competition of the, future with an economic robber in our cupboard. RESTORING THE MORALE. There is another problem which will have to be solved on grounds of policy. Whatever training a man has had, it is obvious that in mast trades the worker with only one arm must bo loss efficient than his" more fortunate comrade. And it is equally obvious that the average employer, unless ho is compelled, either will not employ the man with this handicap, or will not give him full wages. This is aprobem which must inevitably bo settled betimes, for the war cripples are already such an important, class that no country can refuse to do them justice.

Tt was found at Roohampton that limbless men come in in a mom or less disorgnTiiped statu of mind. They have the hospital ntmosphnro about them; they are dejected by the law of their limbs; and they are not at all disposed to begin thinking of themselves as social units with a

future in life. To break down this feeling tliey arc encouraged by every means to begin to think of their future. Loot u res aro given und invitations held out to them to choose a vocation and to enter upon their training while they wait for their limbs. Hy and byo the suggestions tear fruit.; but in tho early days tiiero was a very stubborn

and widespread fear amongst the men that if they did anything to equip themselves for earning a livelihood their pensions would be reduced accordingly. As an urgent matter of policy the Government announced that this would not bo the case, and when onco this very natural fear was laid most of the men threw themselves into their education with vim and enthusiasm.

The records of lioehampton show already a great number of men who loft the army, crippled and despondent as to their future, and who have now re-entered civil life, not merely able to earn a living, but actually able to earn a better living than before they went to serve their country in the trenches.