creasingly impressed with the potentials of therapeutic exercise for functional living, using one's latent and often unrealized abilities to walk, get in and out of bed, feed oneself and gain skills for other activities necessary for daily living. The aged, as you well know, can easily become a tragic and difficult group. Loneliness is one of the greatest psychological problems of the aged. We feel that this monotony and weariness of life is directly related to the spectrum of reduced physical activity and that an integrated medical program of physical exercise must take this into account if we are to improve the situation, exercise not merely to amuse and entertain an objective which is recognized as valid, but an exercise regimen to meet the changing needs of the aged for continued independence, for ambulation, self-care, and productive work when feasible. Exercise must make sense to the older people, must be purposeful and understandable in terms of retraining, reconditioning, and rehabilitation. I might add here that we feel the President's fitness program contains the potentials for improvement of the lot of the aged in raising their organic vigor and appetite for life. Corrective therapists are making studies and applications of the new concepts of physical exercise as a combination of strengthening exercises and static contractions and "holdings" which we feel applicable to the conditioning needs of the older persons for whom strenuous exercise is contraindicated. It is from this background of interest and experience that our association offers the following specific comment and recommendations on this bill. On page 7, line 11, pertaining to the payment for hospital inpatient services, physiatry is mentioned as one of the medical specialties for which payment will be authorized. Physiatry, more commonly called physical medicine in the Veterans' Administration includes corrective therapy and yet, while the bill legalizes payment for physiatry it excludes one of its essential specialties, corrective therapy. On page 8, lines 5 and 6, physical, occupational or speech therapy are the only paramedical specialties mentioned for which remuneration is provided under the bill. This provision excludes corrective therapy. We feel that this is discrimination seriously prejudicial to a specialty which through the years has made and is making a professionally valid and important contribution to the field. We cannot feel that it is the intent of this committee to legalize such an injustice to a highly trained professional group, including in its numbers those who are treating, always under the medical prescription of a doctor of medicine, a large proportion of the aged population in the largest hospital organization in the world, the Veterans' Administration. This exclusion of corrective therapists has another seriously unfavorable effect. As previously stated, corrective therapists working in Federal, State, and private institutions and clinics perform this service only under a prescription of a doctor of medicine. Many doctors are utilizing their services who under this bill would be unable to exercise their medical prerogative for the selection of a professionally competent therapist of their choice, who might be needed for a particular type of exercise treatment for which these therapists are highly trained. In view of the foregoing statement, our association is unanimous in recommending the following for the specific purpose of avoiding the exclusion of corrective therapists from this bill: (1) That corrective therapy be positively included along with the other paramedical specialties in the therapy exercise field and that no statement in the bill exclude their participation in the program remuneration for their services. and (2) That the wording in the bill include specifically the term “corrective therapy." (3) If recommendation No. 2 is unacceptable, that the term "rehabilitation therapies" be included. (4) Wherever occupational therapy and physical therapy are mentioned that there be included the words "and other rehabilitation therapies." It is our feeling that the problems of the care and rehabilitation of the aged in this country are best viewed as new developments, reflecting a social culture which accepts the aged as potential contribu tors not only to their continued independence but as contributors to the democratic way of life. It is, therefore, evident that we need continuing legislation to organize and direct the social forces in the community toward these ends, to mobilize and utilize all such elements in our society, both technical and lay. The Association for Physical and Mental Rehabilitation is desirous of lending every possible assis tance in this cooperative endeavor and appreciates the opportunity of being here today. (The brochure is as follows:) PRESIDENT: APMR ELECTED OFFICERS (Executive Board) Carl Haven Young, Ed.D., 3231 Coolidge Ave., Los Angeles 66, Calif. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Richard G. Fowler, 3586 Tilden Ave., Los Angeles 34, Calif. VICE-PRESIDENTS: 1st: David Ser, 43-01 - 46th St., Long Island City 4, N. Y. SECRETARY: John B. Murphy, Route #3, Chillicothe, Ohio. TREASURER: Vincent Oddo, 4839 W. Daken Street, Chicago 48, Illinois. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: John E. Davis, Sc.D., 105 St. Lawrence St., Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. PAST PRESIDENT: Norman N. Tenner, 8557 N. Drake Ave., Skokie, Illinois. CHAIRMAN, CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE: Harry B. Dando, 1092 Fairmont St., St. Paul 5, Minn. DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: Roger H. Wessel, Box 478, Montrose, New York. Fiscal Year July 1, 1960 through June 30, 1961 rd REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY (Elected by Chapters Proportional to Membership) CALIFORNIA - NEVADA: Evangelo M. Gerontinos, 1781 Begen Ave., Mountain View, Calif. Ernest G. Saenz, 5214 Selmaraine Dr., Culver City, Calif. Bernard H. Weber, 7631 Willis Ave., Van Nuys, Calif. CENTRAL STATES: Worth J. Randall, 4987 Ellis Ave., Dayton 15, Ohio. EASTERN NEW YORK: Leo Berner, 218-02 - 67th Ave., Bayside, Long Island, N. Y. GRAND CANYON: Henry H. White, 2142 Terra Linda Dr., Salt Lake City 17, Utah. HEART OF AMERICA: Robert O. Swengel, 2605 Murrow Court, Topeka, Kansas. MIDDLE ATLANTIC: Durwood H. Evans, 584 Firethorn Dr., Monroesville, Pa. MIDWEST: Leslie M. Root, 2142 N. 61st St., Wauwatosa 13, Wisc. NEW ENGLAND: George Heos, Box 256, Astor Postal Station, Boston 23, Mass. NORTHWEST: Louis J. Souza, 6111 - 99th St. SW, Tacoma 99, Wash. SOUTHEASTERN: Paul B. Bell, 1143 Getwell Ave., Memphis, Tenn. TEXAS-LOUISIANA: John J. Arena, Jr., 5037 Rapido, Houston 21, Texas. WESTERN NEW YORK: Warren N. Landon, 22 S. Main St., Manchester, N. Y. |