SOLDIER INVALIDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1919, Page 7

SOLDIER INVALIDS.

DEVELOPMENT OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING,

CONFERENCE OF VOCATIONAL OFFICERS.

Wellington, June 2.

A conference of vocational officers was recently held in Wellington to consider many points which have arisen in connection with thia important work among soldiers who are sick and disabled. As a result of a very valuable exchange of views, the work of the Educational and Vocational Training branch of the Defence Department will receive great impetus, and its operations will be extended.

Six months ago no vocational training was given in hospitals, although two lady instructors had been engaged by the medical authorities to teach occupational work such as basket-making and leather work in the institutions under the Defence Department's control. It was to ensure that toldiers in hospital should be given, not only occupational instruction but also vocational training prior to their discharge that the special branch was sSt up, under the control of a director of vocational training. The staff has already grown to over fifty, and as new demands for instruction come forward, it is being tteadily increased. Workshops have been provided at Auckland, Rotorua, Napier, Trentham, Christchurch, Hanmer, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill. Funds for this purpose and for the provision of equipment have been provided by the New Zealand Red Cross Society which devotes itself to the welfare of the tick and wounded soldiers. In these hospitals instructors have been appointed to teach trades suitable to hospital patiients, f.nch as boot-repairing, carpentry, cabinet-making, motor-engineering and business courses. In some hospitars instruction by way of lectures is aho given in economics and civics. It has been found, however, that the soldiers usually prefer to interest themselves in vocational rather than educational work. It is the duty of the vocation officer to interview every soldier patient, and get him interested in his future civilian an dto start his training before leaving the hospital. When it is realised that there are 1302 patients at the hospitals in New Zealand, and that the out-patients number 1871 the magnitude of the task of interviewing is evident, and it was not surprising to find that all the vocation officers reported that they were overworked. Assistant vocation officers have now been appointed in Auckland and Christchurch, and similar appointments are to be made in Wellington and Dunedin.

This extension of the staff will enable the branch to pay special attention to the needs of the soldier out-patients. It iy the wish of the Minister of Defence that these patients should be trained in the same way as those undergoing treatment as in-patients. Owing to the fact that they only get into touch with the vocation officer once or twice a week, when they come to the hospitals for medical attention, it is difficult to interview each man.

"We are not going to allow the outpatients to drift," i/tated the Director of Educational and Vocational Training. "They will receive not only medical attention, but help in the task of preparing for their future as useful civilians." All out-patients are to be interviewed by the vocation officers, who will advise them ns to the best training l for civilian positions, nnd encourage them to take advantage of the educational facilities) provided by the Department.

The relations of the Educational and Vocational Training bmnch with the Repatriation Department, which looks after the soldier upon discharge, wore fully considered at the conference. A representative of the director of repatriation and the secretary of the Repatriation Board attended a sitting of the conference, and it was decided to coordinate the work so that the men v, lio have been trained while undergoing medical treatment may continue their education, after discharge, under the direction of the Repatriation Department.

It hjas been a difficult and delicate talk to introduce vocational training into the hospitals, for soldier invalids, like the average civilian, are disinclined to take lip new activities during the restful period of convalescence. Useful occupation plays an important part in winning strength and a cheerful mental outlook, and for this reason alone is a factor of great value. The soldier's future as a civilian is the subject of the Defence Department's anxious ' concern, therefore the vocation officers —carefully selected from the ranks of the returned men, with a knowledge of their outlook and a keen desire to help their old comrades.'—strive to interest them in their life after' discharge when they enter the competitive arena outside. They have to overcome the disinclination of the convalescent to undertake any active work, and they often have to overcome his feeling of hopelessness in regard to the future. The work was commenced without the aid or stimulus of precedent, but the conference showed that it it' now well established, that the bulk of the soldiers appreciate what is belli™ done for them, and as a result the soldier will leave hospital better equipped for civilian responsibilities than before the Educational and Vocational branch way established.