The tough, know-it-all boys who have been kicked out of school,
engaged in theft, and generally been incorrigible, aren't quite so
macho when a leech attaches itself to their leg. They also don't
really know how to paddle a canoe, but want everyone to think they
do. "Wilderness therapy" works.
Joel lookslike he's very retarded. His ear is on his chin, his eyes
are placed in the wrong area of his face, he has a severe cleft lip
and palate. Not assuming the degree of his mental deficiencies,
Playlady>/b> teaches him to throw soft balls and bean bags
across the room, and laugh. Much to the dismay of the nurses.
Don, known to the nurses as the femur in 360, will have his leg in
traction for 6 weeks, but it doesn't squelch his need to play. It
does challenge the Playladyto find ways of providing activities
that he loves.
When Little Mary came to pediatrics, Playlady had to decide whether
to stay aloof, or throw herself into the team caring for a
terminally ill child. It would be acceptable to "hide from the
tragedies of life to avoid the pain, but then you miss the joy,"
You miss the dance.
When Ryan's arm was chopped off in a farm combine, his mother
packed it in ice and he was helicoptered to our facility where it
was reattached. Finding play for a boy with one arm totally
immobilized, was just a day in the life of the Playlady.
Marcus also lost an appendage while holding his shotgun and trying
to climb a fence. With his thumb gone, it was impossible to have a
grip. So, they took his second toe off and sewed it where his thumb
had been. It was a job for Playlady to help him use the hand
naturally again. As in holding and moving game pieces.
Anorexia has vicious tentacles that take a strong hold of bright,
ambitious young people who come to the point of life or death. Body
perceptions are hard to dispel, and it takes an entire medical team
to help them get strong enough to play, and then leave.
A deadly car wreck claims the father, sister and leaves three other
family members in hospitals. Five year old Claire spends months on
Peds, relearning to crawl, walk, and talk with the Playlady.
It is a total shock when the hospital eliminates the recreational
therapy programs, due to budget cuts. Anger, and sadness finally
give way to hope, when Playlady finds herself walking down the hall
of the State Psychiatric hospital with a huge ring of keys clipped
to her belt. Sometimes that's the only way to tell who stays and
who goes home at night.
With a minor in Psychology going along with the BS in Recreational
Therapy, it was a great opportunity to actually live, work and play
with folk who exhibited all the symptoms written of in the texts.
The paranoid schizophrenic, the depressed, the murderers judged
insane by a jury, become daily companions. Sandy used to be a bird,
and has a picture on the wall to prove it. Joe speaks in word
salad, totally unintelligible. Outings can be scary, embarrassing,
but are an essential part of judging a patients ability to live on
the outside. Many never do.
Again, Playladyis out of a job, and again she finds a new one. Back
to the same hospital where she worked on Peds, but now in the
inpatient, acute, psych ward. Different keys on the belt, some of
the same diagnoses.
Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) is back in use. Better known as
shock treatment, it totally changes the life of an elderly woman
who failed at suicide with a shotgun blow. By the end of her stay
she was singing with Playlady at the piano.
Whatever the diagnosis, there is a need that can be fulfilled by
Playlady. Finding that need, and determining how to meet it, is the
most exciting part of being a recreational therapist.
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