A Program to Effect Vocational Restoration of "Unemployable" Cardiac Cases

¹ Ben R. Meyer Rehabilitation Center, Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California

A rehabilitation center in a general hospital setting provided to "unemployable" cardiac patients a program including the comprehensive application of all its diagnostic and therapeutic services in close cooperation with the patients' personal physicians. A graded program of increasing general and prevocational activity concurrent with psychosocial services led to a general increase in tolerance for physical performance. Of the first 45 patients entering the program, 20 were discontinued. Discontinuance was as frequent for bona fide medical causes as it was for personality maladjustment. Of the remaining 25 patients, 17 completed the center program and were either working, entered into vocational retraining programs, or were assigned for direct employment activity in an industrial workshop. It appears evident that with a continuing uninterrupted rehabilitation program under medical supervision involving the "total" patient and his circumstances, certain individuals considered unemployable can become gainfully employed.