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177
Occupational Therapy.
Occupational therapy has an important role in a Tuberculosis
Scheme. It gives those who have so much time on their hands a new
interest, as well as providing them with a little financial help. The
Handicrafts Class which is being undertaken in conjunction with St.
Pancras has proved very successful. Many of the patients have shown
a distinct aptitude in this direction and the sale of the goods has been
encouraging. In addition, a small class was started at the Tuberculosis
Dispensary at the end of the year for the manufacture of
Christmas Crackers. The patients learned very quickly and more than
80 boxes were made and sold in the few weeks before Christmas. The
Dispensary is hardly a suitable Handicraft Centre and it is hoped that
other premises for use as workrooms will be available in the future.
The desirability of a complete reorganisation of Handicraft Schemes
in London has already been mentioned. The different Boroughs should
co-operate; the formation of three or four groups with common workrooms
and a well-organised system for the sale of goods would be a
great advantage.
One of the biggest loopholes in the tuberculosis service is made
by our inability to find work for those discharged from Sanatorium
as fit for suitable work. The Village Settlement or Training Colony
offer solutions, but there are not many of these, and, in any case, the
majority of patients could not be persuaded to become settlers. Commerce
has little use for the unfit, and many patients who are fit for
work are doomed to lives of idleness. The Handicrafts Class helps a
little to relieve their monotonous existence and to augment their incomes
a little, but until such schemes are extended they can do very
little to solve the main problem of unemployment amongst the tuberculous.
Home Helps.
The provision of Home Helps for tuberculous Housewives has
been approved by the Council and the scheme is now in operation. Its
aim is to employ a person (who is herself a patient, capable of a little
work prior to resuming full domestic work) to assist the housewife
newly returned from sanatorium. So often the housewife is forced
to do all her housework as soon as she conies home after a period of