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Mattress Photo Caption: Aided By Nurse, Gary Berkey Takes First Steps In 30 Weeks |
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Paid Medical Studies |
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When the first astronaut sets foot on Mars, he will probably be more concerned with his tender
feet than anything else. The fact that unused feet hurt when they are stood upon was one of the medical discoveries that
emerged from a unique space experiment in San Francisco yesterday. In the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, conscientious objector Gary Berkey, 22, turned over in his bed and stood up for the first time in 30 weeks. Berkey groaned a little as his feet, clad in black stockings, hit the floor. His soles had become so sensitive through disuse that the mere act of standing up was painful. The object of his long sojourn on a mattress was to show researchers what might happen to astronauts who are subjected to confinement in the cabin of a space ship for several months or more at a time. The ideal would have been to subject Berkey to a state of weightlessness for a long period of time. But since weightlessness can be achieved only for a few moments on Earth in an airplane, the doctors hit upon the bed as the next best thing. On Christmas Day, 1967, Berkey and Christopher Stevenson, another conscientious objector, took to their beds, side by side. A third volunteer is also part of the program, but has asked that his name not be mentioned. Berkey arose yesterday afternoon after 30 weeks because he has school commitments and must get himself in shape for classes. Stevenson will go another six weeks before he, too, gets back on his feet. Other than the sore feet, Berkey's condition when he arose yesterday surprised and delighted doctors who have been studying him. He was able to totter a few steps and converse with doctors, nurses and reporters. Dr. Charles L. Donaldson, the scientist in charge of the project said he was "very gratified" with Berkey's performance. Dr. Donaldson said that the three young men showed a marked loss of calcium from their bones -- a phenomenon previously noted in astronauts aloft for extended flights. But the calcium, which was disappearing in their urine, stopped dissipating after about seven days, he said. Dr. Robert McNamara, a psychiatrist with the Parks Job Corps Center in Pleasanton, was assigned to check the mental performance of the volunteers. He said they passed all test, but accomplished must less in the way of reading than they expected. "They all planned to read a great deal, and at first they did," he said. "But later, their reading dropped off and they spent more time watching television." The volunteers were permitted to watch TV, play records on turntables mounted beside their beds, play cards with the nurses and other amusement that didn't involve getting off their backs. The nurses scrubbed and massaged them every day and bedsores never became a problem. Dr. McNamara said the intelligence quotient of the men may even have increased during their long confinement. That this may have been due to the fact that they had so much time to think, he added. Dr. Donaldson said that much is known about sick people who have spent long periods in bed, but not much about well people. "I think this experiment is the longest time that any well person has remained in bed," he said. Berkey lost only about five pounds during his ordeal. He will remain at the hospital for another five weeks while doctors study every aspect of his body's return from his present weakened condition to normal. |
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