TreStoreKøbenhavnskeEpidemier-3.31.2016 11-22-36 PM

The great majority o f the victims had to move back to the bad environments,where they lived before the epidemic. A fter the polio epidemic a big number o f the patients were badly handicapped. The major part o f them were helped through the existing relief measures. Some o f them re­ ceived assistance from funds raised by Polioforeningen, others were supported by »Samfundet og Hjemmet for Vanføre». For the respirator patients blocks o f service flats were built in Hans Knudsens Plads. In the years after the epidemic money was raised for the purchase o f motor-cars for the walk-handicapped polio-patients. The three epidemics hold a number o f similarities and dissimilarities. The three cen­ turies were o f course very different. The medical education varied in each period. The social system was different in 1 7 1 1 under the autocracy, in 18 5 3 under the June-Constitution and during the nine- teenfifties. There are however points o f resemblance. Each time the disease came as a surprise. Methods o f treatment and relief measures had to be invented on the spot. If a lesson can be leamt from the three epidemics, it must be that epidemics come unexpectedly and demand energetic efforts, and that untraditional ways o f thinking and capability o f co-operation are necessary in order to achieve a good result. Conclusion.

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