I don't know if anyone will see this comment on an older thread... I remember my grandmother knitting these bandages! It would have been in the early to mid 60's. I was fascinated!
e.ridenh said:Going through some retro Gifts Galore (bazaar sellers) and Quick Tricks (both Coat's & Clark's booklets; 1968), I found:
Leper bandages made of knit-cro-sheen
2 balls # 1white
Kintting needles size 1 over 25 stitches
Slip first stitch as if to purl,
Knit acrosss until the balls were finished
= a fairly long bandage not unlike and Ace bandage. It could go on any part of the leper's body.
I recall some of our ladies doing this, too and long before the 60's. Wow!
Leper colonies: Greece, one of the last leper colonies in Europe, closed in 1957. A leper colony, leprosarium, or lazar house is a place to quarantine leprous people.
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, is still active today in our modern world. It is a chronic infection caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. Leprosy causes changes in the body which are often evident in a person's appearance.
One can only guess how lepers were treated emotionally, physically let alone the medical treatment.
According to official reports received during 2010 from 141 countries and territories, the global registered prevalence of leprosy at the beginning of 2010 stood at 211,903 cases, while the number of new cases detected during 2009 was 244,796 (excluding the small number of cases in Europe).
God bless those church ladies.
Donna Rae
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