Description
Ms. Orford remembers a patient she had treated in England, and had then treated at Christie St. Veterans Hospital in Toronto after the war. She marvels at the surgery which allowed this veteran to regain the use of his hands and return to his prewar occupation. Ms. Orford goes on to discuss how wives coped with their husbands' disabilities.
Elizabeth Orford
Elizabeth Orford was born on April 14, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario. She chose physiotherapy as a career and graduated from the University of Toronto in June, 1943. Ms. Orford interned at the Children's Memorial Hospital, dealing with victims of polio. When asked to join the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, she accepted, enlisting in Montreal. Ms. Orford first served in Canadian military hospitals, dealing with infantry and flight training injuries. She went overseas, and worked in #9 Canadian hospital, Horsham, then moved to #24 Canadian hospital, Horley. There, Ms. Orford treated many amputees and burn victims. After returning home, she worked at the Christie Street Veterans Hospital in Toronto.
Transcript
One patient in particular that I always felt was one of my very special patient who had a lot of soft tissue shot off both arms and he was up in plaster cast for months in England, both arms so he could really hardly do anything. Well now, when I saw him at Christie Street he was out of the plaster and he’d had several successful operations. I don’t know how many operations he had; over a period of five years, probably over 30 - tendon transplants, nerve repairs, marvelous surgery and he eventually had wonderful little leather braces over his wrists and he went back to his, the company he had worked with before the war. And his wonderful wife, she joined him down here in Toronto, he was from Thunder Bay. But they had only been married about a month or two before he went overseas and here it was about five years later. You know, the stories of families and families that stayed together and some that didn’t stay together. Some wives could take the, maybe disfigurement, if you like, and some couldn’t.