ORTHOPAEDIC TREATMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1919, Page 4

ORTHOPAEDIC TREATMENT.

THE CHRISTGHUEQH HOSPIXAXt At present 60 soldiers are undergoing treatment by the orthopaedic unit at the Chrietchurch Hospital, under the charge of lieutenant-Colonel D. S. Wylie. The erection of the temporary building, which is to accommodate 100 additional beds, is to be commenced next month, and it is expected will be completed in three mouths. Various sections df the hospital devoted to "after treatment," including massage, electrical baths, and curative workshops, will be in working order in about ten dayß. Colonel Wylie states that it is a misconception to think that there is a definite relationship between the curative workshop treatment and vocational training The primary object of the hospital workshops is merely curative, and the orthopaedic unit cannot undertake to produce tradesmen in the li7ne at their disposal with a patient. A patient will be put to that work which will yield the best results from a curative point of vie*, but if, consistently with that, it i 9 ipossible to give a man the class of work to which he has been accustomed, it will be done. Colonel Wylie and his staff are housed in a suite of offices in a portion of the old hospital buildings Adjacent to the Chalmers Ward, now devoted to orthopaedic purposes. Colonel Wylie states that the equipment of the unit from the point of vieiw of material is not yet complete, as quite a considerable quantity of apparatus lias still to arrive from Great Britain.

Very complete armngeaiemts are !•«- ing made to help the injured soldiers back to health and strength. Curative workshops, including those intended for both woodwork ami meta'vrorl;, have been erected and equipped ivtith benches and various apparatus.