"The Digger."

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 30, 8 October 1920, Page 8

"The Digger."

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1920. T. B. MEN. The treatment of T.B. men is one which has necessitated a great deal of thought and careful handling. It, is possible that it is one of the most difficult problems to be faced by those who control the repatriation of the soldier from war to peace. In Australia the problem has assumed considerable magnitude and it seems evident that every attempt is being jnade to attain a high degree of efficiency and give the men Ihe best conditions possible to re store them to health. ihe medieal section of ihe department of repatriation have given much thought to the question of returned tuberculars and as a result, a system has been evolved which is declared to he the realisation of an ideal for which the profession have been striving for years. The tubercular cases handled by the Department include : (1) Sanatoria — early cases. (2) Men whose disease lias been arrested. (3) Incurable cases. To these the following policy is beine applied : — Class (1) are treated in sanatoria already existing for the purpose, including those either privately or State-owned, but

they are segregated from the civilian cases. During the period of sanatorium treatment, the men are educated as to their future cour&e of life by lectures, demonstrations, and printed matter, and encouraged and shown how to keep their disease in subjection when once it has been arrested and they have been discharged from the institution. For Class (2) cases, in each State a coxnmunal farm, to insure open-air employment under adequate medieal supervision, has b.een esta-blished. These w-ill provide married quarters, so as to encourage the man to maintain his family ties, and to prevent the dread of prolonged separation from his family from militating against liis submitting himself for treatment. For single men there are dormitories, and for all there is a central clubroom, which furnishes plenty of recreative facilities. Educational arrangements for the children have been made. The stability of a man's condition can thus be judged, and allowances paid or assistance provided commensurate with his state of health. Those who are well on the way to recovery and have regained sufficient strength to become self-reliant can then be assisted on the land under the Soldiers' Settlement Schemes, an outdoor calling more than any other relied on to ward off a recurrenee of the disease. Those men (Class 3) whose disease is past arresting, and who may be classed as incurable tuberculars, are segregated in cheerful liomes, est-ablished expressly for its purpose in the vicinity of the metropoli, so as to be easily accessible to their relatives and friends, and thus with shade trees, lawns, chal-ets, and good recreative facilities the last days of these men "will be brightened. Furthermore, and most importantly, th.e separation of these men from Classes (1) and (2) will not only permit of their declining days being made as bright and happy as possible, but will also exclude from the less advanced cases the depressing effect upon them of haemorrhiges !and rapid decline which would otherwise iend to retard recovery.