HOSPITAL
DUKE
msseAtm
DUHHAM, N. C.
OCTOBER, 1959
What’s in a Handicap?
—Ask P.T.
An inevitable result of the rapid
expansion of facilities here at Duke
Hospital in the past few years has
been the loss of a feelin>: of closeness
amongf all its employees. In clays gone
by most employees had a fair notion
of what their fellow workers in other
departments did, but now w'e are so
bi" a family that this is no longer
possible.
The Physical Therapy De])artment
is, according to Miss Helen Kaiser,
Director and Associate Professor of
Physical Therapy, thought by many
to be the place where tlie patients go
to have a pleasant luilf hour when
they feel tired! How far from the
truth is tliis description of a depart
ment so active in the care and re
habilitation of patients and in the
training of gradiiate students.
Duke’s staif of 11 physical thera
pists, 22 graduate students, a secre
tary, two maids and an orderly carry
out the physicians’ prescriptions for
care of from 70 to 90 i)atients per
day. Just what does the ])hysical
therapist do for the patient at Duke?
The therapist’s jobs range from con
ducting the pre-natal and post-natal
exercise classes to the important train
ing given to amputees in the Amputee
Clinic.
This work with amputees is among
the physical therapist’s most impor
tant and rewarding because it calls
into play the dual nature of the ther
apist’s job of training and teacliing
the amputee to learn new skills and
of encouraging him to have confidence
and be at ease with his artificial limb,
or prosthesis.
The pliysical therapist is, therefore,
both a friend and teacher to the hun
dreds of patients who come from all
over the state to be followed weekly
in our Am])utee (.’linic. Here they
receive special j)i'e-prosthetic train
ing to helj) make tlie ])hysical and
emotional transition to their artificial
arm or leg easier. Once the i)atient is
fitted with his prosthesis, the Clinic
then teaches him the use of it before
discharge. These weekly training
visits last from three to four weeks
with simph; problems to a period of
years in patients like little four-year
old Vonnie. Obviously one of the pets
of the phj^sical thera])ists, Vonnie has
been under the supervision of ^Irs.
Grace Horton (sliown above with an
other of hei' favorite patients) for
over two years. This saucy little red
head Avas born without arms. Her
training started before she was two
wlien she learned to use her feet with
as nnicti dexterity as a 2-year old
usually commands fi'om his hands.
Then came a jieriod when she wore
shoulder j)ads to accustom herself to
the feeling of wearing some type of
harness. Then at about age 2 Vonnie
acquired “Bessie,” lier new right
arm, and from that tiirie on the em-
pliasis shifted to training her to use
the arm and hand. This spunky little
redhead is quite a youiig lady to ob
serve. She is unsi)oiled, unselfcon
scious of “Bessie” and quite capable
—thanks to the many hours spent
with llrs. Horton in training her to
ward self-sufficiency.
]\Iuch of the pliysical therapists’
(Continued on page 6)