Occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy make up the rehabilitation team there, and they all interact closely with medical social work, prosthetics, and the doctors and nurses to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the patients in their care.

Occupational therapy (OT) is concerned with the rehabilitation of physical functions of each patient as it pertains to activities of daily living.

"Things that you and I take for granted like getting in and out of bed, dressing and undressing and using the bathroom can be very difficult for someone who has had a stroke or lost a limb,'' said Mrs. Brackstone.

The OT Department includes an assessment kitchen with counters at both wheelchair and standing height, where patients practice preparing simple meals.

All the appliances are usually found in most homes, but the OTs can supply a wide range of tools which make the commonest kitchen tasks possible for even severely disabled people.

Likewise the assessment bathroom has a wide range of adaptive equipment which can be loaned or bought if the patient's independence would be increased by their use. "Some things performed in the OT Department look like games,'' said Mrs. Brackstone. "However they all have a therapeutic basis, and are performed with a functional goal in mind. And the patients enjoy many of these activities which is a bonus,'' she said.

"Other, sometimes surprising equipment is found in the OT Department like a manual printing press for increasing upper limb strength and co-ordination and a Personal Computer which has programmes to assist a number of different conditions seen here. For instance, children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) can sometimes concentrate for longer periods on a computer than they can in the class room,'' she added.

While many assessments can be done in the OT Department, it is often prudent to see how the patient manage in his/her own home. A "home visit'' is arranged so the patient can be observed doing everyday things in the home, particularly going in and out, moving around the house sometimes with assistive devices. And if any difficulties are encountered they can be addressed before the patient leaves the Hospital.

The Physiotherapy Department deals with a wide range of conditions from the seriously ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit to the old people whose home is in the Extended Care Unit, and everything in between.

There are three physio departments in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, and the patients in each are roughly separated according to their diagnosis.

On the ground floor is the busy acute outpatient area where all sorts of broken bones, sprained ankles, stiff necks, backaches, sore shoulders and amputees can be seen receiving a variety of treatments ranging from soothing hot packs, to lasers and other forms of electrical treatments, and the more advanced patients will be put through rigorous exercise programmes.

There is another Physio Department which is combined with the OT Department and this forms the Heddington Neurological Rehabilitation Unit. The physio in this area is exclusively for those patients with neurological problems which include stroke, spinal cord injuries, head injuries and the paediatric patients suffering from cerebral palsy or other conditions affecting the nervous system.

"This unit is two years old and was started by the Bermuda Hospitals Board in an effort to offset the enormous cost of overseas rehabilitation and furnished by a very generous donation to the Care Campaign by the Heddington Insurance Company to which we are extremely grateful,'' said Mrs. Brackstone.

"It is vitally important to keep the older members in our community as active and mobile as possible, even when it is necessary for them to live in the Extended Care Unit. Thus the physiotherapy department in ECU was enlarged and re-equipped to meet that need,'' she said.

The newest addition to Rehabilitation Services is that of speech pathology which began in August 1993. Many patients, both medical and surgical -- in and outpatients -- need the services provided by the speech pathologist. "A stroke can be a devastating occurrence, but if speech is involved too, both the patient and the family are often at a loss of how to cope both physically and emotionally. Speech therapy can help.''