THE LAND OF SILENCE AND LIGHT
DIRECTED BY HENRI GRIGNON MUSIC: E. ROBERT PAUX
COMMENTARY: ED. BEN DANOU SOUND RECORDING: FIATFILM
TO REASSURE FAMILIES AND PATIENTS
BY EXHIBITING LIFE IN A RESORT TOWN
SPECIALIZING IN TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT,
SUCH IS THE HUMANITARIAN PURPOSE OF THIS FILM
Tourists arriving in Leysin are quite surprised to see
very unusual road signs.
The town abides to the strict medical needs
of the resort,
forbidding road traffic between 2 and 4pm,
to facilitate silent rest,
one of the pillars of sanatorium treatment,
to be respected by all.
It is also forbidden at night so as not to disrupt patients' rest.
Such a result wouldn't be easily attained elsewhere.
But silence isn't enough.
There is much more to a sanatorium than an elegant building
in the mountains.
Experts dictate that bedrooms,
treatment galleries and other patient premises
must face south,
to benefit from the maximum sunlight each day.
The resort should be built high enough
that the mists coming up from the valleys
do not reach treatment galleries.
Air must remain pure and above all, dry.
Finally, high mountains should protect the resort
against north and west winds as they bring humidity and cold.
As early as 1890,
physiologists noticed that the small village of Leysin
met all of these needs.
A treatment centre was built.
Others followed.
From a small village, Leysin has grown into a sanatorium hub,
specializing in all the different forms of tuberculosis treatment.
A cog railway takes you to Leysin.
On the way up,
passengers experience curious optical illusions.
At an altitude of 1,400 m,
patients and their companions are delighted
with the pleasant and gay surroundings.
However,
very strict hygienic measures apply.
Further, everyone should appreciate
such measures.
The policy
is the same in all the resorts:
offer patients maximum comfort
and care.
Family,
friends and other visitors, like the patients,
enjoy this wonderful alpine landscape.
In the quiet setting
of the high mountains, days pass filled with air, sun and rest.
These standardized cures
are usually enough to heal most pulmonary lesions,
provided that carelessness,
neglecting the disease in its early stages,
or excessive trust put into some remedies,
didn't exacerbate the condition.
In such cases, these cures are complemented by treatment
designed to bring relative rest to the lesions
of the affected lung,
thus facilitating their healing.
Of all the methods
used in collapse therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis,
artificial pneumothorax is the simplest and most common.
It isn't a surgical procedure.
Air is simply blown into the pleural space
around the lung.
Here is a diagram to briefly outline
this treatment.
Air pressure
slightly collapses the lung on itself,
which keeps it at relative rest.
X-ray and radioscopic images are continually used.
This is repeated regularly
over an extended period of time.
The lung collapses
more and more,
and the lesion heals by progressively forming a scar.
When the healing is complete,
insufflations are continued as a matter of precaution,
but at increasingly wider intervals.
Then they are stopped for good.
The air is gradually resorbed.
The lung recovers its volume and returns to normal function.
Frame of mind is just as important as physical state.
Good spirits lead to a quicker recovery.
Patients usually adapt very quickly to their new way of life.
The morning cure is brightened by varied tasks until lunch.
Overfeeding is no longer recommended.
Varied menus, simple dishes, fresh fruit
provide sufficient, vitamin-rich food intake.
Diets are at times prescribed by the doctor.
The afternoon cure, a cure of silence,
is rigorously observed.
For patients, the doctor's daily visit
actually feels like a long, amicable conversation.
The reciprocal trust thus established grows during months of cure,
until the progress achieved and confirmed by X-ray
are such that the doctor can safely deem the patient
to be recovered, and send him back to active life.
...are the heliotherapy facilities
dedicated to the cure of so-called surgical tuberculosis,
which affects the bones,
joints, glands, peritoneum, etc.
The aim of the treatment is both to heal the lesions
and restore the whole organism.
It is based on full body sun baths,
wisely measured for each individual.
Very simple orthopaedic devices
immobilize affected joints as needed,
while still allowing access
for air and sun.
Hence the advantage of maintaining blood flow
and almost always preserving joint function.
This patient has tuberculosis of the spine
or Pott disease.
The left X-ray was taken before treatment.
It shows extensive destruction of the 11th and 12th dorsal vertebrae.
The axis of the spine has a significant curvature.
On the right, after treatment,
the radiography shows the results
of heliotherapy and orthopaedic treatment.
Both damaged vertebrae have completely healed
by fusing together.
The spine is now straightened.
Patients' good morale is sustained by the work cure.
It offers even bed-ridden patients
the opportunity to perform not overly exerting manual activities.
Without impeding the heliotherapeutic and orthopaedic cure in any way,
they provide
invaluable solace and some financial support.
In children's clinics, young patients have regular school lessons
alternated with calisthenics
always accompanied by music.
The affected joint is spared,
while the child's musculature is developed
and good spirits are maintained.
As the recovery stage nears, the patient begins
to carefully learn to stand again using crutches,
then canes.
He goes for longer and longer walks.
They restore him
while letting him admire the marvellous surroundings.
Finally, when he leaves,
his fellow patients bid him farewell.
He returns to the joys of family
and his profession.
Thus in this resort
entirely designed for the well being and recovery of all patients,
time goes by quite fast.
On long summer days, bus trips are organized
for convalescents.
The Great St. Bernard Pass is a favourite.
In winter,
sports competitions are organized for them to attend.
They can practise winter sports in moderation.
This teenager will always remember his youth around Leysin,
in the upper air preventorium.
A frail child, he has benefited from the great outdoors,
and the sun.
Physical education in such conditions
make children so resistant
that, during sunny winter days, they can go skiing or sledding
with just a bathing costume on, like in summer.
These adults,
often growing morally and intellectually in their months of cure,
will also remember Leysin.
They will come back as tourists,
for the altitude and pure air that cured them.
THE END
Subtitles: Ariane Fénart & Élisabeth Fuchs