ILOTA Communique December 2017 Communique | Page 17

October / November / December • Issue 4 • 2017
recommendation from Julia Lathrop of Hull-House
for a position at the Newberry State Hospital in
Michigan. The address of 824 S. Halsted suggests that
Slagle resided in one of the Hull-House settlement
buildings during one of her stays in Chicago (Chicago
School of Civics and Philanthropy. Records, [Box
13, Folder 1], Special Collections Research Center,
University of Chicago Library).
Steven Taylor, OTD, OTR/L
Michael Reese hospital. So much so, as a member of
the Woman’s Auxiliary Board, she personally funded
Tracy to join the faculty of the Presbyterian Hospital
of Chicago in memory of her mother (McMillan,
1922). This resulted in an educational and clinical
department of occupational therapy in 1917, which
still continues beyond its centennial anniversary
today. Miss Drake remained the primary benefactor
of the department during its primitive years. Her
foresight and firm belief in the value of occupation
have created a lasting legacy for the profession in
Illinois.
References
Drake, H. V. (1916). Invalid occupations. The
Presbyterian Hospital Bulletin. Retrieved from https://
archive.org/details/bulletin08pres
McMillan, M. H. (1922). Occupational therapy
in a general hospital. The Presbyterian Hospital
Bulletin. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/
bulletin14pres
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In Their Own Words is a feature section that
highlights the original words of occupational
therapists, allies, or advocates of the profession.
Each piece will focus on the distinct contribution of
occupational therapy to healthcare services in Illinois.
This article will feature the words of Helen V. Drake,
a very early ally of the profession.
“During the three months ending Ju ne 1st, a
class in ‘Invalid Occupations’ was very successfully
conducted in Michael Reese Hospital by Miss Susan
E. Tracy of Boston. For two hours each morning
patients in the wards were instructed, at their
bedside, in various occupations which employed
their idle hands and at the same time took their
minds off their ailments, the work being given to
them as part of the hospital treatment, just as a
prescription would be…
These [things] prove most useful, and, in fact,
indispensable to some interesting occupations”
(Drake, 1916, pg. 5).
Helen V. Drake, daughter and sister of the famed
Chicago hoteliers, was profoundly impacted by
the pioneering instruction done by Susan Tracy at
Kathy Preissner, EdD, OTR/L
Ashley Stoffel, OTD, OTR/L
The Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy,
which grew out of the settlement movement and was
closely associated with the Hull-House settlement
specifically, was established in 1908. This organization
“sought to combine social work education with actual
social work.” The two images shown here are the front
and back of Eleanor Clarke Slagle’s Chicago School of
Civics and Philanthropy alumni record. The record
documents that Slagle attended the “Occupations”
course in the summer of 1911, and that she received
a scholarship. Also worth noting is the “excellent”
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