TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17190, 6 November 1923, Page 13 (Supplement)

TALKS ON HEALTH.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. I WATCH MISf IKINDNESS When you visit a friend who is a patient in a hospit.n I am sure you will pay attention to the rules gov< ru- : ing the bringing in of food. J know | that most of you are very careful, hut | there have been not a few tragedies 1 that make the matter one of urgency. I In a case of typhoid, for instance, the | intestines are full ot ulcers, and there 1 is always, a danger that one of these j ulcers may burst through. The diet |i s most carefully regulated. The sad I occurrence that I am thinking of was the misguided kindness of a mother ! who brought a piece ot birthdav cake to her little son and smuggled it. | under the bed-clothes. In the mornj ing the boy was dead, and it was not • until the discovery of the undigested ] cake at the post-mortem examination that the mistake was traced to the • mother’s action. You can- generally j take fruit so long as you let the J sister-in-charge know. Eggs are welj conic. Of course, if a man is in biie hospital with an accident he may j be able to eat anything; there is no ! special diet for a broken leg. The cases of internal ulceration need the most care, and you will be wise to take nothing on your first visit, and then consult the nurse. LAW AND VENTILATION, i When" you have had an injury and I you feel that the employers or their I insurance company have not treated { you liberally enough, you can take j your case to the Court. Your op--1 ponents mfcy think they have done i their duty if they pay ten pounds into ! Court for you to take out. If the i judge awards you seven pounds you | have lost your case ; if he awards you i ten pounds one shilling you have won j your ua.se. The mental and moral ; atmosphere is one of exaggeration; one counsel says you are injured for life and calls doctors to prove it: the. other counsel says there is nothing the matter with you if you would only buck up, and he calls doctors to prove it. The judge is by far the most respectable person in Court; I do not envy him his job. It is often very difficult to weigh up the so-called evidence offered by each side. But, whatever happens, I want you to give your evidence with eciupulous honesty; if you are fit for light work you may say so and offer to take on any suitable job that is offered to you. PERSEVERE TO GET WELL. I have been agreeably surprised to find how well men can get on after an injury if they will only persevere. The great thing is practice. After an injury, not only floes the injured part need re-education, but the brain also needs practice. In his own homo the workman should use all the tools he can get hold of: ho should not limit 'himself to eight hours a day when he is regaining the use of a maimed hand : he should work all day and sit up all night working as hard as he can. Skill returns with practice. I have no use for the man who stands at the corner of the street hoping that the sweet breezes of heaven will take the stiffness out of his shoulder or hand. T am sometimes exercised in my mind by the old men. They reach sixty and sixtyfive “and then they have an accident. They are fairly well satisfied so long as they have someone at home to look after them and a couple of ablebodied sons to send them a few shillI ings a week. At tho end of six I months they are sent to me to say | if they are recovered, and I suppose I they think me very hard-nearted when j J report, that t can find no sign of the injury. Sometimes I learn by judicious questioning that there has been some ill-feeling between tho workman and the foreman. I must I not repeat all the names that meii call i their foremen. The workman may go hack to work after an injury and do his best, and the foreman puts him off at- the end of a week, and then back the man comes to me saying he is unfit for work and must have his j ?os again.