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Recreational Therapy Archives
1953 JHPER: National Recreational
Therapy Section News
JHPER: National Recreational
Therapy Section News
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(Editor: Bernath
E. Phillips from "52-'58)
(year)volume:issue:page
(1953)24:1:46;2:46;3:46;4:46;5:46;6:46;7:46,52;8:46;9:46;10:46
Permissions
Originally
published in the January 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 1, page 46...
District and State
Sections
In the near future,
most district and state Associations for Health, Physical Education,
and Recreation will be holding their annual meetings. Those interested
in the organization, at these local levels, of counterparts of the
national Recreational Therapy Section, are advised to select at an
early date representatives to petition the presidents of their local
associations for appropriate action. The Recreational Therapy Section
Operating Code, published in the June 1952 JOURNAL, anticipates the
formation of such sections, and will serve as a guide in the development
of other necessary operating codes. Leaders in the Recreational Therapy
field are encouraged to take the initiative in the formation of District
and State Recreational Therapy Sections, for these will constitute
the basic structure upon which our national section will continue
to grow.
Job Qualifications
and Opportunities
Recently your editor
has received several requests from college students for information
relative to schools offering training in Recreational Therapy and
to qualifications required and opportunities for employment in this
general area. This column in the November JOURNAL pointed to the specialized
graduate training being offered at Springfield College, University
of Minnesota, and Columbia University. Information relative to selected
graduate courses should be obtained from the many schools offering
courses in Recreation, Physical Education, Group Work, Occupational
Therapy, and the like.
Qualification requirements
for employment opportunities in recreational therapy can be obtained
from the following agencies which are known to employ recreation workers
in hospitals: Recruitment and Placement Office of Personnel Veterans
Administration Washington 25, D. C. State Personnel Board Office 1015
I. St. Sacramento 14, Calif. Minnesota Civil Service Dept. State Office
Building, St. Paul 1, Minn. Personnel Service American National Red
Cross 18th and D Streets, N. W. Washington 13, D. C. State Dept. of
Civil Service Albany, New York Dept. of Public Welfare Rm. 1500, 160
N. LaSalle St. Chicago 1, Illinois For an excellent description of
hospital recreation positions in the federal government and the general
qualifications required therefor, the reader is referred to the United
States Civil Service Commission Class Specifications, Recreation Series,
GS 188-0, February 1951. These may be obtained from the Superintendent
of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., at 20
cents per copy. The National Society for Crippled Children and Adults,
Inc., Room 1015, 11 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois, maintains
a "National Personnel Registry and Employment Exchange."
Personnel placement service information is also obtainable from: W.
C. Sutherland Personnel Director National Recreation Association 315
4th Avenue New York 10, N. Y. Dr. J. Bertram Kessel Consultant in
Recreation and Outdoor Education, AAHPER 1201 16th Street, N. W.,
Washington 6, D. C.
ARC Needs Hospital
Recreationists
The American National
Red Cross is recruiting women recreation workers for positions in
hospitals of the Armed Forces of the United States wherever they may
be located. Persons accepting employment positions become employees
of the ARC with the understanding that they are available for service
in any geographical area, including overseas. Preference is given
the college graduate.
Originally published
in the February 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 2, page 46....
Recreation in
the Mental Hospital
Dr. Paul Haun's article
entitled "Recreation in the Mental Hospital--A Philosophy,"
which appeared in the September, 1952 issue of this JOURNAL, has stimulated
an unusual amount of interest. There have been several requests for
reprints of the article. The December 1952 issue of Mental Hospitals
quotes liberally from the article and it is reprinted in its entirety
in the December 1952 issue of Child-Family Digest. The article is
well worth re-reading.
Will Eastern District
Be First?
In last month's column,
your editor encouraged the formation of Recreational Therapy Sections
at district and state levels of our association. He is happy to report
that as early as December 16, 1952, he received word from Robert C.
Boyd, Chief, Special Services at the VA Hospital, Aspinwell, Pa.,
that steps had already been taken to form such a section in the Eastern
District. It is not too early to make necessary preliminary plans
for the formation of these local sections at the several annual district
spring meetings.
Applications for
ARC Positions
Last month's column
reported that the American Red Cross is recruiting women recreation
workers for hospital positions. Those wishing to apply for these positions
should direct their applications to the nearest Area Office, rather
than to the Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D. C.
The four area office
addresses are: Eastern Area Office, 615 North St. Asaph St., Alexandria.,
Va.; Midwestern Area Office, 1050 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis 8, Mo.;
Southeastern Area Office, 230 Sprint St., N. W., Atlanta 3, Ga., and
Pacific Area Office, 1550 Sutter St., San Francisco 1, Calif.
NAMT Meeting
The Third Annual
Meeting of the National Association for Music Therapy was held Oct.
30, 31 - Nov. 1 at the Hotel Kansan in Topeka, Kan. Approximately
350 people were in attendance. There are at present more than 300
members of this relatively new professional association, which has
as its purpose the progressive development of the user of music in
medicine, and the advancement of research, interests, and standards
of music therapy.
A significant development
at this meeting was the adoption of requirements for undergraduate
training leading to the bachelor's degree in Music Therapy.
Newly elected President
is E. Thayer Gaston, Ph.D., University of Kansas, Lawrence. John M.
Anderson, M.D., superintendent of Topeka State Hospital, and Karl
Menninger, M.D., The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kan., were elected
to the Board of Directors. The Kellogg Center, East Lansing, Mich.,
was selected as the location for the fourth annual meeting which is
scheduled for mid-October 1953.
Miracle on Skis
Your editor has had
the pleasure of reviewing an informative, inspiring, and entertaining
motion picture "Miracle on Skis." Photographed in the Austrian
Alps, it is a story depicting how two leg amputees, one unilateral
and one bilateral, have overcome, through skiing, their physical handicaps
received during World War II. The picture is 16mm, black and white,
two reels' running time approximately 20 minutes. Booking information
can be secured from Regal Pictures, 246 Stuart St., Boston 16, Mass.
Sports for the
Blind
Those interested
in this topic will want to read an article by Basil Curtis entitled
"St. Dunstan's at Sport," which appeared in the November
1952 issue of New Era. St. Dunstan's is a nation-wide rehabilitation
organization for the blind, with branches throughout the British Commonwealth.
This article indicates that "it is not enough...to prepare a
newly blinded man to earn his living. Equally important are the keeping
up of social contacts and the constructive use of leisure Sport provides
one of the best 'roads to both these goals." A detailed account
is given of application of sports rehabilitation of the blind.
Originally published
in the March 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 3, page 46....
Directories of
Hospitals
On occasion your
editor is asked for information on the employment of recreation personnel
and the conduct of recreation activities in hospitals. Since most
of this information must be secured directly from hospitals, reference
should be made either to the Guide to Hospitals, published annually
by the American Hospital Association, or to Hospitals Registered by
the American Medical Association (Hospital Number), May 10, 1952,
with supplement.
AETA
The American Educational
Theater Association has a project, begun in 1949, through which AETA
college and university chapters volunteer their assistance to VA hospital
recreation supervisors in connection with dramatic activities for
patients.
A Contact Placement
Service recently established by AETA for its members maintains a file
of qualified applicants for positions in the drama field. Requests
for information about this service should be addressed to Mrs. June
Madison Moll, Dept. of Drama, Univ. of Texas, Austin.
Developments in
Minnesota
Fred M. Chapman,
supervisor of Patients Program Services, Divn. of Public Institutions,
410 Globe Building, St. Paul 1, Minn., has instituted a monthly newsletter
as a communication device for all Minnesota State Hospital personnel
employed in the Patient Activities, Occupational Therapy, and Hospital
Industrial Placement divisions. The January issue indicates that the
Patient Activity Leader 1 and Patient Activity Leader II hospital
positions are now open to nation-wide competition.
The National Recreation
Association's mimeographed publication P 162-1-53, Student Aid For
College Recreation Majors, announced that the State of Minnesota,
Divn. of Public Institutions, has established Patient Activities Trainee
and Patient Activity Intern positions as part of an internship plan
for students desiring college field work in Minnesota State Hospitals.
It is anticipated that the plan will be in operation for the academic
year 1953-54 and open to students enrolled at any institution who
can meet qualification standards.
Miscellany
Monthly distribution
of the Recreation Suggestions Exchange Bulletin of the American National
Red Cross is now being made to all VA hospitals and domiciliaries.
Distribution began with the January 1953 issue. This bulletin presents
ideas and operational plans of the Red Cross recreation program in
military hospitals.
Recent References
Recent references
which have come to your editor's attention are: Hill, Beatrice H.,
"Recreation Needs in a Civilian Hospital," Recreation, Jan.
1953. Contains a classification of patient needs, excerpted from the
author's new book, Starting a Recreational Program in a Civilian Hospital,
an NRA publication. McKee, Charles B., "Archery, A Hospital Therapy."
Archery, Oct. 1952. Relates the experiences of the author in teaching
archery, as a volunteer at a VA hospital in the South. Parker, Eloise
C., "Play Therapy." The American Journal of Occupational
Therapy, Sept.-Oct. 1952. A report of a two-year study on the use
of toys, conducted in the Pediatric Division of Lenox Hill Hospital,N.
Y. Proceedings, 34th National Recreation Congress, 1952. "Hospital
Recreation." N. Y.: NRA, 1952. pp. 116-121; Summarizes discussions
on the following topics: (1) Basic considerations which affect the
thinking and planning of hospital recreation workers, (2) What are
the recreation interests and capacities of patients? (3) How are recreation
activities being adapted to patients? and (4) Recreation in state
hospitals. Roland, Mary C., "Psychotherapeutic Aspects of Play,"
The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Sept.-Oct. 1952. A discussion
of the psychotherapeutic aspects of the play of children in a child
guidance clinic.
Originally published
in the April 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 4, page 46.
VA Patient Contests
In February the Veterans
Administration announced the winners of the VA Popular Song Writing
Contest, a contest for long-term patients in VA hospitals conducted
last fall by a group of music publishers affiliated with Broadcast
Music, Inc., in cooperation with VA's Special Services. Although this
was the first contest of its kind, it attracted an estimated 300 patients
from 60 hospitals. The more than 150 entries submitted were judged
by 11 of the nation's leading personalities in the music and entertainment
world.
The VA also announced
the Seventh Annual National Writing Contest and the Seventh Annual
VA Telegraphic Bowling Tournament for Ambulatory and Wheelchair Patients.
Both of these contests have enjoyed greater response each year. In
1952, over 1,000 entries were received from more than 80 hospitals
in the nation-wide writing contest sponsored by the Hospitalized Veterans
Writing Project, a volunteer organization, in co-operation with VA's
Special Services. The contest this year opened February 15 and will
close April 15.
The bowling tournament
got under way March 9 and extends through April 4. In last year's
contest 578 patients participated on 54 teams representing 41 hospitals.
Each year,the Bowlers Victory Legion provides trophies and has its
local representatives assist in the conduct of the tournament at participating
hospitals.
APMR Newsletter
In January 1953,
the Association for Physical and Mental Rehabilitation re instituted
its Newsletter after approximately a year's interim. This new edition
has a completely new format and will be published bimonthly, alternating
with the association's Journal, which is also a bimonthly publication.
The dissemination of the Newsletter will be a free service to members
of the association. The editor is Roger H. Wessel, Box 178, Montrose,
N. Y.
The association has
scheduled its seventh annual convention for the Hotel Mayflower, Washington,
D. C., July 20-24, 1953.
Clinical Center
Facilities
Dr. Robert A. Cohen,
director of Clinical Research for the National Institute of Mental
Health, reported that the new Clinical Center of the Public Health
Service at Bethesda, Maryland, will have generous provisions for recreational
therapy with a gymnasium, theater, outdoor recreational areas, private
roof gardens, and private yards.
The recreation hall
has a motion picture booth and stage and is designed primarily for
group participation activities.
Adapted Sports
Paper
Your editor presented
a thirty-minute paper on "Adapted Sports in Veterans Administration
Hospitals and Domiciliaries" at the Intramural Section Meeting
of the 56th Annual Meeting of the College Physical Education Association
in New York City, Dec. 29, 1952. This paper will be published this
spring in the CPEA Proceedings, 56th Annual Meeting- 1953.
The 1953 Flying
Wheels
This is the title
of a brochure obtained by your editor at a wheelchair basketball game
between the Long Beach, Calif., Paralyzed Veterans Association and
the McGuire Hospital Chairoteers of Richmond, Va., played in February
at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D. C. This brochure
indicates that the "Flying Wheels," the California team,
is out to prove to themselves and to others that handicapped individuals
need not sit on the sidelines.
They travel by chartered
DC-3 plane and are always accompanied by a physician, a registered
nurse, and a staff of aides. On their first five coast-to-coast trips
the Wheels won 35 and lost 15 intercity engagements.
This is the sixth
annual tour of the Flying Wheels, most of whom are former patients
at VA hospitals. These tours are non-profit and non commercial and
are sponsored through donations and services.
Essentially the only
feature of basketball which must be adapted for play in wheelchairs
is to define the dribble to permit two pushes on the wheels, while
the ball rests on the player's lap. No other major adaptations of
rules or equipment are necessary.
Originally published
in the May 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 5, page 46...
California Recreation
Conference
Approximately 80
conferees attended one of the special sessions of the Fifth Annual
California Recreation Conference, held Feb. 10 13, at Long Beach,
Calif. The conference was devoted to a panel discussion on relationship
of the hospital recreation program to the professional aims of the
medical team.
Represented on the
panel from military, state, and VA hospitals were two physicians,
a clinical psychologist, a recreation director, a recreation training
supervisor, a supervisor of rehabilitation therapies, and a social
worker. The panel was chaired by Lourence O. Janssen, asst. area director
for VA's Special Services area office in San Francisco; recorded by
Kenneth A. Hill, special services officer, State Veterans Home and
Hospital, Napa, Calif.; and summarized by Douglas Dashiell, asst.
chief of Special Services, VA Center, Los Angeles.
Institute in Hospital
Recreation
The Univ. of North
Carolina will conduct a Southern Regional Institute in Hospital Recreation,
May 21-23. The institute will be of particular interest to hospital
recreation administrators, supervisors, and leaders, institutional
recreation workers, volunteer hospital workers, and recreation teachers.
For additional details,
write Dr. Harold D. Meyer, Box 1139, Chapel Hill, N. C.
Suggestions Invited,
AGAIN
In September, your
suggestions were invited on authors and topics for feature articles
on Recreational Therapy in the JOURNAL; types of information you would
like to see in this column; and news items and ideas for this column.
Feature articles of a high caliber are especially desired for consideration
of publication in the JOURNAL. Mail your suggestions to the Section
Editor.
News Items
Ruth Flannery, recreation
supervisor, Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, Denver, Colo., is the author
of an informative and provocative article in the February 1953 issue
of the American Red Cross Recreation Suggestions Exchange Bulletin
entitled "What Are the Recreation Interests for Patients with
Contagious and Infectious Diseases."
The cover of the
March 1953 issue of Mental Hospitals depicts Pennington Hall, the
new Recreational Therapy Center for the Crease Clinic and Provincial
Mental Hospital, Essondale, B. C. This one-story building, built and
equipped at a cost of approximately $300,000, is reported to have,
among other facilities, a gymnasium-auditorium, four bowling alleys,
a game room, coffee bar, and a projection room for 35mm motion pictures.
During March, the
Central Office Recreation Service staff of the Veterans Administration
conducted two three-day training seminars in hospital recreation.
The first was held for the chiefs of recreation from eight VA tuberculosis
hospitals; the second, for the chiefs of recreation from five VA Domiciliary
Centers.
Bulletin on Adapted
Sports
The paper on "Adapted
Sports in VA Hospitals and Domiciliaries," presented by your
editor at the 56th Annual Meeting of the College Physical Education
Association in December is now published by the Veterans Administration
Special Services Information Bulletin 1B 6-252, dated Feb. 13, 1953.
While the limited supply lasts, single copies may be secured without
charge by those employed in hospital recreation and by those in colleges
and universities engaged in training or research in this field.
Request for these
information bulletins should be directed to: Director, Recreation
Service, Special Services, Veterans Administration, Washington 25,
D. C.
Veterans' Voices
A new magazine devoted
entirely to stories, articles, and poetry written by veteran patients
in hospitals, titled Veterans' Voices, is being sponsored by the Kansas
City Alumnae of Theta Sigma Phi, national sorority in journalism,
in co-operation with the Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project, Inc.,
and with VA's Special Services. The magazine is to be published three
times a year. Its circulation will be limited to patients in VA hospitals
and homes, and to members of the HVWP, a volunteer group which has
been furthering creative writing among ill and disabled veterans in
VA hospitals for more than three years.
Originally published
in the June 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 6, page 46...
Eastern District
New RT Section
At the 35th annual
conference of the EDA held in Pittsburgh, April 19-23, Robert C. Boyd,
chief, Special Services, VA Hospital, Aspinwall, Pa., was elected
chairman of a newly formed District Recreational Therapy Section.
Mr. Boyd earned this
recognition for his work as Chairman of the President's Committee
on Recreational Therapy in initiating and following through on the
organization of the Section. George L. Sanford, director of Recreation,
Newington Home and Hospital for Crippled Children, Newington, Conn.,
was elected Secretary, and Mrs. Frances B. Ewing, recreation director,
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pa., Secretary-elect of the Section.
A Chairman-elect will be selected at a later date.
At this conference,
Dr. Raymond F. Smith, manager, VA Hospital, Aspinwall, chaired an
excellent panel discussion on The Medical Profession and Recreational
Therapy. Other members on the panel were: C. Howard Marcy, M.D., chief,
NP Service, VA Hospital, Aspinwall; Murray Ferterber, M.D., asst.
prof. of medicine, Univ. of Pittsburgh; and Catherine T. McClure,
Ph.D., asst. prof. of pediatrics, Univ. of Pittsburgh.
Operational Techniques
B. J. Rudquist, chairman,
AAHPER's Recreational Therapy Section, and chief, Special Services,
VA Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Palo Alto, Calif., states: "We
have published many articles which discuss the principles and the
theories of recreational therapy. However, it now appears both timely
and necessary to focus our attention and writings on the work of publishing
operational techniques..."
Toward this end Mr.
Rudquist has submitted some of his observations on the clinical application
of recreational therapy in the mental hospital.
Clinical application
of recreational therapy modalities is authorized by the psychiatrist.
After he has discussed the overall treatment plan for the patient
and its therapeutic aims, the conduct and integration of the recreational
therapy regimen becomes the responsibility of the recreational therapist.
At this point the
recreational therapist is placed on his own resources for it is here
the selection of the social milieu and the specific type of activity,
its modification, adaptation, or refinement becomes his primary concern.
Full attention should be focused on a significant aspect of this social
milieu, namely, its therapeutic atmosphere. The social milieu must
be readily acceptable, understood, and reassuring to the patient.
Therefore, careful
selection of the patients who are to be in the group is of utmost
importance. The group should contain patients who are compatible and
toward whom a definite attitude and approach has been prescribed by
the psychiatrist. It is important that therapists and ward staff actually
assume this attitude toward the patients within the group.
For example, it would
be somewhat non reassuring, if not confusing, to a patient if one
therapist were kind and firm to him while another were not; or, where
the same therapist, while firm to him, were observed by this patient
to be jovial and reassuring to another patient.
To understand the
value and effect of play experience upon patients as individuals,
the recreational therapist must learn to observe small though not
insignificant changes in a patient's attitude. Any change of attitude
in a play situation, regardless of whether it evidences pleasure or
irritation, has significance for it supplies valuable information
about the patient which, in turn, assists the therapist in better
understanding the patient's emotional difficulties. When observations
of these attitude changes are recorded on the patient's record card,
a general profile of the patient's reactions, interests, dislikes,
and progress begins to take form and his behavior can better be interpreted
and understood.
RT Mailing List
Association members
engaged, or especially interested, in recreational therapy should
write: Dr. J. Bertram Kessel, Consultant in Recreation and Outdoor
Education, AA11-PER, 1201 16th St., N.W., Wash. 6, D. C.; indicating
that they would like to be placed on the mailing list for recreational
therapy materials.
New members can accomplish
this by indicating an interest on their membership applications.
Originally published
in the September 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 7, pages 46 & 52...
District Sections
In our June 1953
column the organization of the Eastern District Recreational Therapy
Section was reported. Robert C. Boyd, who initiated and followed through
on this development, has given a detailed account of his successful
experience. Your editor suggests that those who would initiate similar
projects in other districts get under way now in order to have the
necessary machinery operative by the spring division meetings. Your
editor, Dr. Kessel, AAHPER consultant in recreation and outdoor education;
or Mr. Boyd, VA Hospital, Aspinwall 15, Pa., will be happy to assist
such efforts.
The Spice of Life
In an editorial of
the above caption in the May issue of Recreation, Dr. George S. Stevenson,
member of the board of directors of the National Association for Mental
Health, Inc., states "It is something of a travesty on recreation
to call it 'recreational therapy' and thereby try to crown it as a
justification which obscures its inherent positive virtues."
Three paragraphs
later Dr. Stevenson states "As with food, recreation is good
for everyone, sick or well, but it may be therapeutic when a deficiency
is found that calls for its specific use." John Eisele Davis
well-presents some additional thoughts on this controversial topic
in his lead article of the same issue entitled "Recreation Is
More Than Fun."
Hospital Recreation
Curriculums
Harvey E. Williams,
formerly adviser in rehabilitation at Springfield College, has transferred
to San Francisco State College, where he will be responsible for developing
a professional curriculum in Hospital Recreation.
At Springfield College,
Mr. Williams directed the graduate courses in Physical Education and
Recreation in Rehabilitation, initiated a few years ago by Dr. Josephine
Rathbone of Columbia University.
Edith L. Ball, instructor
in education, New York University, also reports a new graduate curriculum
in Hospital Recreation. The program includes courses in the philosophy
and techniques of recreation; in the physical, emotional, and social
problems of atypical people; as well as opportunities for field work
or clinical experience.
For further information
write Miss Ball, School of Education, New York University, Washington
Square, New York 3, N. Y.
NART
A National Association
of Recreational Therapists was organized at a meeting held at the
Western State Hospital, Bolivar, Tenn., last February. Floyd E. McDowell,
Western State Hospital, was elected President.
The basic purpose
of the new association is to strive continually for better recreational
therapy programs in mental hospitals, with special attention being
directed to the needs of state institutions.
Those interested
in becoming affiliated with NART should write Charles Cottle, executive
secretary, at the Mississippi State Hospital, Whitfield, Miss. The
official publication of NART is the Inter-State News.
Coming Meetings
Meetings of the Hospital
Recreation Section of the American Recreation Society and the hospital
meetings sponsored by the National Recreation Association will be
held in conjunction with the 36th National Recreation Congress, Sept.
26-28 at the Hotel Bellevue Stanford, Philadelphia, Pa.
The fourth Annual
Meeting of the National Association for Music Therapy will be held
at the Kellogg Foundation, East Lansing, Mich., Oct. 19-21. Included
in the program will be discussions concerning music for psychiatric
and tuberculous patients, research in music therapy, music for geriatrics,
and music for deviate children.
The 36th Annual Conference
of the American Occupational Therapy Association will be held Nov.
13-20 at the Shamrock Hotel, Houston, Tex.
Professional Meeting
Highlights
Dr. Edward Greenwood
of Menninger Foundation was the main speaker at the Institutional
Assembly on Rehabilitation held at the St. Cloud Reformatory in April.
He spoke of recreation as therapy, pointing out that when it is employed
as such, recreation is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
Alfred W. Deibel,
assistant superintendent of Hastings State Hospital presented a paper
on the "relationship of hospital recreation to medical departments"
at the University of Minnesota Annual Spring Recreation Institute
in May. The paper is summarized in the July August issue of the Minnesota
Department of Public Welfare's Patients Program Services.
More than 100 hospital
recreation leaders from 21 states attended the Southern Regional Institute
in Hospital Recreation at Chapel Hill, N. C., in May. Many excellent
papers were presented and plans are being made for publication of
the proceedings.
Over 80 representatives
of Southern Illinois University, Anna State Hospital, Tuberculosis
Sanitarium, Menard Prison, and Illinois Security Hospital, all institutions
in the southern Illinois region, attended an Orientation Conference
on Activity Therapy which was held at the University in Carbondale
in June.
Among other recommendations
made at the meeting was one to the effect that curriculums offered
to major students in physical education, art, industrial education,
health education, and music should be supplemented and adapted so
as to qualify students for opportunities in the institutional field.
More than 400 registrants,
most of whom are corrective therapists in VA hospitals, attended the
Seventh Annual Conference of the Association for Physical and Mental
Rehabilitation held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C., in
July. The professional papers and scientific exhibit were of especially
high caliber.
Originally published
in the October 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 8, page 46...
Minnesota Is Recruiting
Fred M. Chapman,
supervisor of patient program services, Department of Public Welfare,
Minneapolis, writes:
"We now have
80 full-time hospital recreational personnel employed in our 11 state
hospitals. However, our Civil Service eligibility lists are still
somewhat bare, and we are especially interested in learning of new,
qualified prospects who would be interested in joining our system."
Patient Activities Leader I and II positions have a salary range of
$252 to $332 per month; Patient Programs Supervisor I positions, $360
to $410. In addition, most Minnesota state hospital employees may
receive their room, board, and laundry for $35.00 per month if they
reside on institutional grounds. Employment may be secured only after
successful completion of a Civil Service Examination, the written
part of which may be taken in most large cities throughout the nation.
In all cases, it is desirable to communicate directly with Mr. Chapman
for purposes of exchanging detailed information pertaining to job
preferences and opportunities.
Intercom
The American National
Red Cross Recreation Suggestions Exchange Bulletin has had a face
lifting. The June-July 1953 issue, Vol. VIII, Nos. 6 and 7, has come
out with a new title, Intercom, and an attractive masthead and format.
This well-respected publication is a monthly, and although distributed
primarily to military hospitals, it is made available upon request
to Veterans Administration and state hospitals. Lillian Summers, National
Recreation Consultant, Service in Military Hospitals ANRC, Washington
13, D. C., is Editor.
Clubmobiles in
Korea
The American National
Red Cross needs personnel for clubmobile recreation programs in the
Far East. Qualified young women should apply at once. See page 52
for details and information about where to write.
Sport and Health
Sport and Health,
50 lectures from the International Conference on Sport and Health
held in Oslo in connection with the Olympic Winter Games 1952, is
a fine publication. It is understood that while the supply lasts the
book may be obtained free of charge. Requests should be directed to
Otto Johansen, M.D., Statens Ungdomsog Idrettskontor, Kronprinsens
gt. 6, Oslo, Norway.
Music Performance
Trust Fund
If you have not had
the benefit of instrumental concerts made available by your AFM local
through the co-operation of the Music Performance Trust Fund, your
attention is invited to an article "Music Comes to Disabled Veterans"
by Lenard Quinto, chief of music, Recreation Service, Special Services,
VA, Washington, D. C., in the May International Musician. In the article
Mr. Quinto describes the recreational and therapeutic programs made
available through the MPTF. According to law, similar programs may
be set up for public hospitals provided that monies allocated to the
geographical areas are sufficient for music performances desired.
For further information,
write Samuel R. Rosenbaum, Trustee, Music Performance Trust Fund,
11 E. 47th St., New York 17, N. Y.
Originally published
in the November 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 9, page 46...
Hospital Recreation
Concepts
Under the chairmanship
of C. C. Bream, Jr., the Committee on Basic Concepts of Hospital Recreation
of the Hospital Recreation Section, American Recreation Society, has
published a 26-page report of the committee's study of prevailing
concepts of recreation for the ill and disabled.
This report contains
the Statement of Tenet of the Hospital Recreation Section and appears
to be essential reading for all who are sincerely interested in the
care of the ill and disabled. The report, published September 27,
is entitled Basic Concepts of Hospital Recreation.
Treatment Through
Activity
The Biennial Report
for 1950-52 of the State of California Department of Mental Hygiene
indicates that the 1950-51 budget provided for a supervisor of rehabilitation
therapies at each of the state mental hospitals. The therapies are
occupational, educational, religious, music, recreational, and industrial.
The report estimates that "...15 percent of the patients are
reached by specifically prescribed rehabilitation therapies...activities,
such as dances, parties, shows, holiday celebrations and other social
and recreational programs...reach about 95 percent of all patients.
"Music therapy
is one of the newest methods of treatment added to those used in California
mental hospitals and much is still to be leaned about how it works
and how to use it most effectively.
"Recreational
therapy covers such a broad field that almost every type of activity
is included. But for the most part, recreational therapy includes
physical activities, such as walks, hikes, simple games, sports, and
social activities."
VA Reorganizes
Reorganization of
the Veterans Administration Central Office Staff has resulted in the
placing of the Recreation Division in the Department of Medicine and
Surgery. The Division, experiencing a reduction in the number of professional
employees, will now be responsible, primarily, for the planning and
evaluation of hospital recreation in the VA's more than 160 hospitals
and domiciliaries, operating functions having been transferred to
another office. W. Hal Orion, who still heads the VA's hospital recreation
program, will be assisted by C. C. Bream, Jr., E. J. Kelly, Lenard
Quinto, and B. E. Phillips. Neither VA field station recreation staffs
nor programs have been reduced by the reorganization.
Patient Activities
The Fourteenth Biennial
Report of the Minnesota State Division of Public Institutions contains
more than 15 detailed references to the employment of recreation activities
in the treatment of patients at state hospitals. Selected quotations
from this report are:
"At the outset
it must be recognized that recreation is not merely a device to please
the patient and give him activity' it is an essential item in the
treatment and rehabilitation of the mental patient.
"...included
in the ten mental hospital programs are: arts and crafts, dancing,
dramatics, entertainment, literary events, music, nature outings,
social events, and sports and games.
"The program
has been largely guided by 89 trained and experienced personnel. In-service
training has been stressed...
"The primary
aim...is not exclusively on the numbers of patients that are activated
through these measures, but on the numbers of patients that progress
to more complex activities and responsibilities. These persons will
then be able to accept additional hospital work...and be better prepared
for hospital adjustment or community living."
Recreation in
Rehabilitation
W. Hal Orion, director
of VA's hospital recreation program and Vice-President-elect for Recreation
of AAHPER, taught the new course, "Recreation in Rehabilitation"
at the recent summer session, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles.
AART Conference
More than 400 registrants
attended the 4th Annual Scientific and Clinical Conference of the
American Association of Rehabilitation Therapists held September 8-11
at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The conference theme was
"Professional Growth of the Rehabilitation TEAM."
The program contained
several panel discussions of interest to hospital recreation leaders,
including such topics as "Definitive Treatment Objectives in
Music Therapy," "The Contribution of Recreation to the Rehabilitation
Therapy Team," and Co-ordination of Music Therapy with other
Adjunctive Therapies."
Clarence P. Heft,
chief, Educational Therapy, VA Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, and William
L. Green, chief, Manual Arts Therapy, VA Hospital, Roanoke, Va., were
elected President and President-elect, respectively, of the Association.
The annual meeting will be held next year in Washington, D. C.
Originally published
in the December 1953 JHPER, v24, issue 10, page 46...
National Recreation
Congress
Several meetings
of direct interest and benefit to those in our field were conducted
at the 35th National Recreation Congress, in Philadelphia September
28-October 2. C. C. Bream, Jr., reported on the study just completed
by a subcommittee of the American Recreation Society, entitled Basic
Concepts of Hospital Recreation. Annabelle Story chaired a discussion
on In-Service Training for Recreation Personnel in Hospitals. Paul
Haun, M.D., and George G. Deaver, M.D., spoke on Recreation in the
Total Hospital Situation and The Role of Recreation in Rehabilitation,
respectively. Martin W. Meyer, chairman elect of our section, summarized
the meeting on Recreation in the General Medical and Surgical Hospital.
In a meeting entitled
Demonstration of Recreation in a Chronic Hospital, arranged by Mrs.
Beatrice Hill, seven patients from the Goldwater Memorial Hospital
in New York City related how recreation contributed to their rehabilitation.
At the annual meeting
of the ARS, 1953-54 officers of the Hospital Recreation Section were
announced as follows: Chairman--Dorothy Taaffe, recreation supervisor,
American Red Cross, U. S. Naval Hospital, St. Albans, Long Island,
N. Y.; Vice-Chairman--Fred Chapman, assistant professor of recreation
training, University of Minnesota; Secretary--Annabelle Story, recreation
training supervisor, Pacific Area, American Red Cross.
The Education
of Specialists
In August, the Standards
and Training Committee (Fred Chapman, chairman) of the Hospital Recreation
Section, American Recreation Society, released a report of a study
entitled The Education of Specialists in Hospital Recreation. This
study, conducted last spring, indicated that of the 44 colleges and
universities included in the study which offer degrees in recreation,
six offer graduate or undergraduate degrees in hospital recreation,
as follows: Columbia University--Master's degree, Recreation in Rehabilitation;
University of Minnesota--Master of Education, Hospital Recreation;
New York University--Master of Arts, Hospital Recreation; Springfield
College -Master's degree, Physical Education and Recreation in Rehabilitation;
Purdue University--Bachelor of Physical Education, Remedial Physical
Education; Sacramento State College- -Bachelor of Arts, Recreational
Therapy.
Three additional
institutions of higher learning plan to offer degrees in this area
in the near future.
Nine provide opportunities
for recreation students to take courses in medicine, psychiatry, or
related medical areas. Eighteen arrange for students to have field
work or internship experience in Hospitals. Forty-one students enrolled
in the institutions surveyed, were engaged in hospital recreation
research projects.
The study concludes
by asking, among other questions, "Should more standardized and
uniform medical 'approval' be granted and exerted over the increased
number of schools that are offering specialized degrees in this area?"
and "Is a system of registration or certification feasible for
those experienced specialists now in the field and those who have
recently graduated from hospital recreation curriculums?"
Recreational Therapy,
1819
"...of all the
modes by which patients may be induced to restrain themselves, regular
employment is perhaps the most generally efficacious; and those kinds
of employment are doubtless to be preferred which are accompanied
by considerable bodily action, that are most agreeable to the patient,
and which are most opposite to the illusions of his disease.
"...every effort
should be made to divert the mind of melancholiacs by bodily exercise,
walks, conversations, reading, and other recreations. Those who manage
the insane should sedulously endeavor to gain their confidence and
esteem, to arrest their attention and fix it on objects opposed to
their delusions...and to remember that in the wreck of the intellect
the affections not infrequently survive."
These quotations
are from A Description of the York Retreat--1819, taken from the Biennial
Report for 1950-52 of the State of California Department of Mental
Hygiene. quotes liberally from the article and it is reprinted in
its entirety in the December 1952 issue of Child-Family Digest. The
article is well worth re-reading.
Will Eastern District
Be First?
In last month's column,
your editor encouraged the formation of Recreational Therapy Sections
at district and state levels of our association. He is happy to report
that as early as December 16, 1952, he received word from Robert C.
Boyd, Chief, Special Services at the VA Hospital, Aspinwell, Pa.,
that steps had already been taken to form such a section in the Eastern
District. It is not too early to make necessary preliminary plans
for the formation of these local sections at the several annual district
spring meetings.
Applications for
ARC Positions Last month's column reported that the American Red
Cross is recruiting women recreation workers for hospital positions.
Those wishing to apply for these positions should direct their applications
to the nearest Area Office, rather than to the Red Cross National
Headquarters in Washington, D. C.
The four area office
addresses are: Eastern Area Office, 615 North St. Asaph St., Alexandria.,
Va.; Midwestern Area Office, 1050 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis 8, Mo.;
Southeastern Area Office, 230 Sprint St., N. W., Atlanta 3, Ga., and
Pacific Area Office, 1550 Sutter St., San Francisco 1, Calif.
NAMT Meeting
The Third Annual
Meeting of the National Association for Music Therapy was held Oct.
30, 31 - Nov. 1 at the Hotel Kansan in Topeka, Kan. Approximately
350 people were in attendance. There are at present more than 300
members of this relatively new professional association, which has
as its purpose the progressive development of the user of music in
medicine, and the advancement of research, interests, and standards
of music therapy.
A significant development
at this meeting was the adoption of requirements for undergraduate
training leading to the bachelor's degree in Music Therapy.
Newly elected President
is E. Thayer Gaston, Ph.D., University of Kansas, Lawrence. John M.
Anderson, M.D., superintendent of Topeka State Hospital, and Karl
Menninger, M.D., The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kan., were elected
to the Board of Directors. The Kellogg Center, East Lansing, Mich.,
was selected as the location for the fourth annual meeting which is
scheduled for mid-October 1953.
Miracle on Skis
Your editor has had
the pleasure of reviewing an informative, inspiring, and entertaining
motion picture "Miracle on Skis." Photographed in the Austrian
Alps, it is a story depicting how two leg amputees, one unilateral
and one bilateral, have overcome, through skiing, their physical handicaps
received during World War II. The picture is 16mm, black and white,
two reels' running time approximately 20 minutes. Booking information
can be secured from Regal Pictures, 246 Stuart St., Boston 16, Mass.
Sports for the
Blind
Those interested
in this topic will want to read an article by Basil Curtis entitled
"St. Dunstan's at Sport," which appeared in the November
1952 issue of New Era. St. Dunstan's is a nation-wide rehabilitation
organization for the blind, with branches throughout the British Commonwealth.
This article indicates that "it is not enough...to prepare a
newly blinded man to earn his living. Equally important are the keeping
up of social contacts and the constructive use of leisure Sport provides
one of the best 'roads to both these goals." A detailed account
is given of application of sports rehabilitation of the blind.
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