Medicine: Back to Life

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The results are far from grim. Lying in bed or sitting in his wheelchair, the patient slowly gains strength with constant use of dumbbells and pushups. For those who can eventually stand in their braces, the secrets of confident balance are patiently learned with the aid of low parallel bars, usually under the eye of paraplegic teachers who have already learned. Laboriously, in a never-ending process sparked by the slogan "Keep Moving," they learn anew 137 separate daily activities, from tying shoelaces to driving a car and developing an employable skill. Their indomitable spirit awes their teachers. Says one therapist: "No All-American's 80-yard run can compare with a quadriplegic's heroic efforts to push a button through a buttonhole."

Fuel & Fire. Rehab's huge postwar success is due to one man: Dr. Howard Rusk, 57, founder of the Institute, and the rehab apostle whose techniques are now duplicated in 38 countries, from France to Korea. Until he was 40, Missouri-born Dr. Rusk was content with his quiet career as a St. Louis internist and instructor at Washington University School of Medicine. World War II changed everything. At Missouri's Jefferson Barracks Hospital, Army Air Corps Major Rusk was appalled by a total lack of convalescent conditioning. When still-shaky patients returned to active duty, they quickly slid back to the hospital. Rusk soon got his convalescents into shape so successfully that the Air Corps put him in charge of a program that spread to 253 hospitals and twelve rehab centers, was also adopted by the Army and Navy. With a Distinguished Service Medal for his work at war's end, Colonel Rusk was "on fire" to do the same job for 20 million handicapped civilians.

Financier Bernard Baruch contributed money and encouragement. Publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times caught fire too, gave Rusk a platform as an associate editor. The doctor's bylined reports on the lack of civilian rehab facilities, plus a new medical professorship from New York University, ignited such philanthropists as the Bernard Gimbels and the late Louis Horowitz, builder of Manhattan's Woolworth Building. In 1951 the $2,500,000 Institute opened its doors, has now trained more than 260 U.S. physicians and 3,000 therapists, plus teams from 28 other countries. Still expanding, it will have beds for 100 adults and 36 children by July, supervises 379 beds in nearby hospitals.

Hunting & Touring. The surface of rehabilitation has really only been scratched. The U.S. now has only about 300 rehab-trained doctors, needs at least 9,300 more. Since the aged are especially vulnerable to disablement, rehab's job will grow as science stretches longevity. Most disabled people, who now cost the public some $537 million annually, can be readily rehabilitated. Nearly 85% of rehabilitants return to work. In about three years, their income taxes alone match the public funds spent on them during disability.