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Show x j Red Cross Hospital Workers HelpSpeedPatientRecovery i -Z v , - J The job of rebuilding sick bodies and minds of servicemen in military mili-tary hospitals and restoring them to useful life is carried forward by a team doctors, nurses, and Red Cross workers. The Red Cross worker may be a medical or psychiatric psychi-atric social worker, a recreation specialist, or a combination of them assisted by a Gray Lady. Military physicians and nurses find that restoring the health of a sick man requires much more than medicine and food. The will to live and the will to do do things must be revived before medical treatment can get in its beneficial work. That's where the Red Cross enters the picture. A young soldier, only 23, was injured in-jured in an accident at a munitions muni-tions proving ground. Half of his face and neck were blown away. Painracked and frightened, he had little taste for ordinary hospital recreation. He loved music, though, so the recreation worker brought to his bedside a radio phonograph and then, by mere chance, found she could satisfy a greater longing. The boy revealed that he wanted to write to his young wife those tender, personal things that he hesitated to dictate. Red Cross hospital workers assist medical officers with welfare and recreation programs for military patients. A recording machine was brought to his bedside, and he found the words to tell his longings to his distant wife. It wasn't easy because be-cause his injury had damaged his vocal chords and articulation was difficult. But after patient practice prac-tice with the hospital worker, he finally poured out his heart to the record and sent it off to his wife. To the arthritic, the tubercular, the rheumatic heart sufferer, doomed doom-ed to long periods of bed care, the recreational services provided by Red Cross ease their burden of restlessness and discouragement. Nearby chapters in cooperation with other local agencies bring into the hospitals young people from the nearby communities, women who serve as hostesses for parties, young people who dance and play games, all reminding the sick soldier sol-dier that he is not forgotten by those he served. Under federal statute and regulations of the' Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, the American Red Cross furnishes volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of the armed forces and acts in matter of voluntary relief and as a medium of communication com-munication between the people of the United States and their armed forces. |