Social work with patients hospitalized for poliomyelitis : an account of a student social worker's experiences in the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Winnipeg

Abstract

...The purpose of this thesis is to give some account of a student social worker's experience in a municipal hospital for the chronically ill, the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Winnipeg where certain social services were established on an experimental basis through a Student Unit of tho School of Social Work of the University of Manitoba. This thesis will attempt to indicate some of the patients' problems, their need for social service and some of the responses of patients when the beginnings of these services were offered. The cases studied were selected fnom the case load of the writer during her student experience. While the hospital treats patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, arthritis, etc. the student's case load was limited to a specific group of patients, those suffering from poliomyelitis. We will attempt to illustrate through our work with these patients, some of the values that medical social service could have in the process of their rehabilitation. The social service department in a hospital for the chronically ill is an important part of treatment. To enable a patient to feel like a whole and useful person despite his disability; to help him return to a normal life in the community; this is the ultimate aim of medical and social rehabilitation...