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approved by the Secretary of Labor and Industry and by the Gover-
nor, according to the law. Training may continue during a period
of twenty weeks and if an extension beyond that period is necessary,
definite approval for such extension must be given by the Secretary
of Labor and Industry.
Workmen’s Compensation when awarded for a definite permanent
disability may be commuted, or ordered by the Workmen’s Com-
pensation Board to be paid in lump sum, in whole or part, if such
lump sum payment be deemed by the Compensation Board to be to
the best interest of the beneficiary,
Such lump sum payments for disabled persons frequently have a
direct bearing upon their ultimate rehabilitation. This ig partieu-
larly true if the lump sum payment be to obtain a small farm for
the raising of truck, poultry or orchard products or be for the pur-
pose of establishing the disabled berson in a commercial enterprise.
Consequently, the Bureau of Rehabilitation in Pennsylvania cooper-
ates with the Workmen's Compensation Board and investigates the
conditions on which such petitions are based in each case in order
that the Board may determine, as a result of such investigation,
whether the lump sum payment is to the best future interest of the
disabled person. An important consideration in connection with lump
sum payment is that the regular weekly payments cease when lump
sum payment is made, or are reduced in amount, and every pre-
caution should be taken to make certain that lump sum payment
will not subsequently work hardship upon the disabled person.
REHABILITATION PAYS DIVIDENDS
Disabled persons register with the Bureau of Rehabilitation be-
cause they are unemployed and have been unable to obtain employ-
ment through their own efforts. The average wage at which disabled
persons have been returned to suitable employment by the Bureau
is approximately $100 per month,~—81,200 a year. The total average
cost of rehabilitating a disabled person in Pennsylvania is approxi-
mately $160.
If an average disabled person is placed in suitable employment
by the Bureau at a wage of approximately $1,200 a year and con-
tines in that employment for even five succeeding years, the economic
return can be based on the production represented by a payroll of
$6,000. That result has been accomplished by an individual ex-
penditure of approximately $160. That estimate is also entirely on
the productive side and does not. include the benefits aceruing by
the elimination of charity nor the effect on the general morale of
the disabled persons.
The Bureau of Rehabilitation is primarily a bureau of service.
Its purpose is to return physically disabled persons to suitable em.
ployment. During the first five years of the Bureau’s operation,
approximately 6,500 such disabled persons were reported to the Bureau
and listed on its records from every county in the State. The
Bureau of Rehabilitation has limited funds and staff and in order
to operate successfully, for any disabled person and in any com-
munity, it must have the eooperation of the eitizens of that community
including employers, employes, physicians, educators and all public
and private agencies that can be of assistance in returning disabled
persons to suitable work
