INTERESTS FOR SICK SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 287, 2 September 1942, Page 8

INTERESTS FOR SICK SOLDIERS

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy. Treatment for soldiers in the Middle East is proving valuable, according to Private Frank Haggett, who is in charge' of this section of work at the No. 3 New Zealand General Hospital;. in’a letter to Mrs. Hi J. Frank,. president of the Inglewood branch of the Red Cross Society, expressing thanks for parcels received from, the branch and from the Lady Galway Guild. The parcels contained scraps of wool, tapestry, paua. , shells, kauri, passe partout, old felt hats, and other materials, all of" which Private Haggett, • his two Women War Service. Auxiliary helpers, and the patients found very useful. He writes., that until the ’ hats arrived they had been unable to. interest one patient whose trade.had been hat reblocking; He became enthusiastic at,once, and showed the others how the hats could be steamed and drawn out into flat discs and long strips for the making of attractive belts-with applique designs. Inlaid work in shell, was one of the traditional crafts of Egypt, the letter stated, but the New Zealanders considered that the paua shells with their lustrous, colours looked much better. Many of the patients wanted to carve tikis, so they were very glad of the kauri and the shell for the eyes. It was very difficult to, get’ buckles, for the leather objects the patients made, he said, and when he thought of, the old watch straps with good buckles he had thrown away he had wondered if people were still doing the same and if it would be possible to salvage some. The straps bought in the Middle East had aluminium buckles that corroded- before the straps, gave out. ■ The men under treatment wero mostly concussion cases, who usually suf-, fered from severe mental depression. They had for the most part lost interest in everything. Occupational treatment therefore had to be made attractive. There had to be a variety of occupations to suit all tastes and for varying degrees of expertness. It was not the- finished product that was of importance, Private Haggett explanned, but. the measure'of absorption in the task. Some patients had peculiar fixed ideas of “complexes” that hindered their recovery. A common one was that the doctors did.not understand the case, and could do nothing for the patient, and that the patient would never 'be any better. It was found that where a patient’s attention was absorbed in some occupation ihe was receptive to suggestion.