Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
History
Conference of Officers in Charge of Government Hospitals Serving Veterans of the World War
Medicine, Military; Military hospitals; World War, 1914-1918 -- Veterans -- Medical care -- United States
I might say that out of every fifteen cases sent in with diagnosis of
epilepsy, about twelve or thirteen of them proved, after careful
observation for a period of from two to three months, to be hysterical.
That was about our ratio on cases sent in.
Our procedure was much like Dr. Kolb’s at Waukesha. The man was given
complete physical, neurological, examination first. We had a special
consultant who visited the hospital about once a week. After a man had
his examination, he was checked as needing further examination in eye,
ear, nose and throat, or x-ray,—whatever was indicated in the case, and
that was tabulated on the chart and checked against his examination. At
the end of that time each ward surgeon prepared a summary of the case
and a decision was made as to whether the patient needed a short term of
treatment in our own hospital,—we had there occupational therapy and
other methods of treatment,—and then be discharged and sent back to his
home.
In connection with the in-patient hospital work, we had a committee at
the district supervisor’s office made up of one representative at the
Bureau of War Risk Insurance, one from the Federal Board, the
neuro-psychiatric contact officer and one representative from the Public
Health Service. We tried to place the men in some definite schedule,—the
Federal Board, if possible, after he was discharged from the hospital,
and we would bring our problem cases to this meeting, where they would
be taken up and such arrangements made for their further treatment as
necessary. The contact man visited the station once or twice a week to
familiarize himself with the problems of each man.
The out-patient department was naturally on a different schedule; that
is, certain hours of the day were set aside and definite offices
assigned to the out-patient department; they kept track of their own
patients, who reported in at intervals of two or three times a week,
every two or three weeks, according to the needs of the case. If the man
needed some special treatment, he came into the hospital for that
treatment and at the same time he saw this ward surgeon and talked the
case over with him. Just as soon as that patient was ready for
vocational training, he was put into touch with our contact officer and
a schedule was made out for him.
In regard to the vocational training for epileptics, a great many cases
during the year I was at Chicago, came up to that board for
consideration. We tried the epileptic at various occupations; kept him
away from machinery so as no injury would come to him, and we succeeded
in rehabilitating only two epileptics out of the whole group. These two
were given positions in factories that were owned or governed by some
relative or friend who had taken an interest in then, disregarding the
compensation laws and disregarding the inability of the men to work when
they would have a seizure. In two instances only have we succeeded in
putting men into training where it proved a success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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