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Indiana University Studies 



tional care only when the child is actually brought to the dis- 

 pensary as frequently as the doctor orders, and when his di- 

 rections for care at home are carefully followed".^ It might 

 be suggested that dispensary care for cases not having active 

 disease might be more satisfactory if accompanied by a care- 

 ful system of social service *'follow-up" care, whereby the 

 responsibility of the patient's regular return to the dispensary 

 would be undertaken by the social service department work- 

 ers, and the expense of salaries for social service workers 

 would be far less than the expense of institutional upkeep. 



Social service workers are also valuable in keeping in touch 

 with patients after discharge from hospitals or convalescent 

 homes. Incidentally ''it is a most encouraging feature that 

 15 out of the 37 institutions (for crippled children) maintain 

 some helpful supervision of their patients after discharge."^^ 

 This field of ''follow-up" care is one of the most important 

 points to be emphasized in this study, because it is funda- 

 mentally the purpose of medical social service to help in ad- 

 justing the social situation where illness interferes with the 

 normal routine; and at the same time to leave a permanent 

 stamp of improvement and general gain in the family or com- 

 munity^ approached. 



'•Reeves, Care and Education of Cri2^j)led Children, p. 34. 

 ^Uhid., p. 106. 



