by Evelyn Lauter
1Thi3iir
I Tospitamzed veterans have had occupational
therapy for a long time things like weaving, leather
craft, wood carving but now they're turning to grapho
therapy, or writing, to get well.
Actually, the vets are trying their hand at authorship
not just for its therapeutic value but to win prizes in a
national writing contest sponsored just for them.
The Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project began
more than ten years ago when a professional newspaper
woman, Mrs. Everett Fontaine, decided she'd heard a lot
about keeping veterans busy with their hands and feet,
but not much about stimulating their minds. So she
started corresponding with hospitalized vets. When her
first writing contest was held, the contributions piled
into Mrs. Fontaine's home so fast she had to get some
writer friends to help her with the judging.
By 1950 the Veterans Administration added the annual
contest to its' service program in VA hospitals across the
nation. The professional women's journalism fraternity,
Theta Sigma Phi, also joined in. Members offer help by
correspondence, by visits to hospitals, and by giving
writing courses for the vets.
The two-month writing contest starts annually on
Feb. 15. Prominent writers and editors act as judges,
and magazines and publishers underwrite prizes.
How much good does the program do? One VA hos
pital administrator summed it up in three words: ap
preciation, understanding, and motivation, each a vital
objective in the therapy program for hospitalized vets.
And the vets accomplish some remarkable things. One
ex-GI, in bed for months with critical internal injuries
suffered when a land mine went off under him, listened
to soap operas much of the time over his hospital radio.
He didn't think the stories were very good, so he wrote
a script (with the help of a Theta Sigma Phi adviser). It
sold for $250, and he has marketed a dozen since!
Another veteran, a paraplegic in a West Coast hos
pital, devised a tool to help him type two spools with
pencils projecting through the ends and a loop to go
over his little fingers. With this arrangement, he could
let his arms drop to the typewriter keyboard and the
pencils hit the keys at a 25-word-per-minute clip.
Result? An article, "Rehabilitation Through Writing,"
which won him first place in last year's contest and the
satisfaction that he had contributed something to his
fellow veterans and to the world.
sinJ w tip
:mM iPkS III
! Bett(s,tC
PERIODIC
PAIN
teat
Don't let the calen
dar make a slave of
you, Betty! Just take ,
t Midol tablet with a glass of water . . .
that's all. Midol brings laster relief from
menstrual pain it relieves cramps,
eases headache and chases the "blues".
r
KM J
nip"1
a. ,1 f
tfgfjo
TRY
THIS
TO AVOID
IRREGULARITY ON
YOUR VACATION TRIP
Take alonK a box of Kel
Iokk'b All-Bran. Eat a
serving VA cup) with milk
every morning. This pives
you all the natural laxa
tive bulk you need daily
to keep on schedule. Deli
cious, inexpensive, ready- ,
to-ent KelloKK's All-Krnn.
Also available in the alu
minum foil "Individual"
packages at restaurants
along the way.
Winner of last year's Hospitalized Veterans Writing Contest was paraplegic vet (right) who devised his own typing fools'.
Family Weekly, Jul 7, 1951 ij