A History of the Rehabilitation Program at Bellevue Hospital With Emphasis on the Orthopedically Handicapped Patients: 1947-1950
Abstract
It seems ironic that a debacle in the form of global war would be the factor to influence medical progress and to help to bring about the repair of torn lives and bodies disabled from exposure to its ravages. The event referred to was World War II, which inadvertently was instrumental in the renaissance of interest. Along with that interest came an insistence by the citizenry that the disabled and incapacitated be given every possible care and advantage to fit themselves to live in a competitive world. The world looks to individuals to be independent rather than dependent, and anticipates that they will make some contribution to society. Rehabilitation, or what is referred to in modern medicine as the third phase of medicine, was the result of this renewed interest in the disabled in terms of conserving human resources. This better use of human resources is not an entirely new concept. The progressive men in medicine, such as Dr. Simon Baruch, a field surgeon in the Confederate Army from 1862 to 1865, were concerned with human resources. He was "especially interested in the problem of chronic disease, hydrotherapy, and such medical activities known today as rehabilitation." The interest in the rehabilitation field by Mr. Bernard Baruch, one of the most progressive and renowned elder statesmen in our country today, stems from the interests and beliefs held by his father. The Baruch Committee on Physical Medicine founded by Bernard M, Baruch is dedicated to the proper use of physical medicine in relation to wartime rehabilitation and peacetime physical preparedness.
Subject Area
Disability studies|International Relations|Social work
Recommended Citation
Frei, Frieda Frances, "A History of the Rehabilitation Program at Bellevue Hospital With Emphasis on the Orthopedically Handicapped Patients: 1947-1950" (1951). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30509529.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30509529
