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CHAPTER 4
to give these patients a comprehensive treatment from the start. This centre is under the
direction of Professor K.Jochheim and until 1970 Dr H.Wahle. Another Spinal Unit
is part of the Neurological Department of the Versorgungskrankenhaus in Bayreuth,
as part of the Veterans Hospital, where Dr L.Lemberg, a former trainee of Stoke Mande–
ville, is in charge. This unit will be enlarged in the very near future to 100 beds for
ex-service paraplegics and tetraplegics. Other developments in Germany in recent years
for the rehabilitation of paraplegics have been the Industrial Rehabilitation Units, the
Johannes Straubinger Haus in Wildbad under Mr W.Weiss, built by the Charitas
Organization, and that of Mr Peters in Krayburg, Bavaria. Furthermore, a very modern
industrial training centre including domestic settlement, called Berufsforderungswerk,
has been established near Heidelberg by Mr W.Boll for disabled people, where para–
plegics can live with their families. This spacious and excellent industrial Rehabilitation
Centre in Heidelberg has been the venue of the XXI International Stoke Mandeville
Games where 1,000 paraplegic athletes and 400 escorts representing 45 countries were
accommodated.
In East Germany a Spinal Injuries Centre was set up in Berlin-Bud in the early
sixties which is run on Stoke Mandeville principles.
HOLLAND
At the end of the Second World War, following a study visit of medical and administra–
tive officers from the Dutch Army to Stoke Mandeville, a Rehabilitation Centre with a
unit for paraplegics was set up for disabled ex-servicemen at Aardenburg, near Doom
under Dr van Gogh. He and his successor Dr Kayser brought in 1952 the first paraplegic
sports team to England to compete in the Stoke Mandeville Games for the paralysed,
which was the beginning of these Games as the annual International Sports Festival for
the Paralysed, the Olympics for the Paralysed. In due course, the Dutch military
authorities set up a settlement for paraplegics and other severely disabled ex-servicemen.
Holland also has established a large Rehabilitation Centre mainly for polios and para–
plegics at The Hogstraat, for some years under the direction of Dr Miedema. There
is also a small Spinal Injuries Unit in Amsterdam under Dr Hofmann as part of a hospital
of chronic diseases, and one can only hope that Dr Hofmann, a very devoted surgeon in
this speciality, will be given better facilities.
IRELAND
In 1961, a Sanatorium for Tuberculosis outside Dublin, run by an order of nuns, the
Sisters of Mercy, was converted into the National Medical Rehabilitation Centre under
the direction of Dr T.Gregg. The Centre has 120 beds, 45 of which are designated for
a comprehensive management of spinal injuries from the start and throughout all stages.
Moreover, recently a specialized service of 18 beds for spina bifida children has been
added. Specialized teams were trained at Stoke Mandeville, and Dr C.Wilmot, who is in
charge of the Dublin Spinal Unit, was a member of my staff for about two years. Dr JJ.
Walsh, my successor as Director of the Stoke Mandeville Centre, was appointed as
Hon. Consultant and pays regular visits to the Dublin Centre to deal with special surgical
problems. The Centre is closely associated with the National Organization for Rehabili-
