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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.
Conclusion.
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.
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