Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-11-03
A NEW HOSPITAL NEEDED.
nv oIoRor ". oIrr.


Rough usage enables the mariuer Il
determine the weak points in his vesse
or her outfit Improper trim, too muel
lading. oyeraparring, or masts out o.
proportion, are all detected when Borea,
lets go a whole cap full Of wind on her,
In like manner do we detect the weak
points In our governmental economy in
times like those we have just passed
through. Amongst other things il has
been made painfully evident that we
need other aud better hospital accom-.
modations than those we have. Our
hospital is situated in the immediate
suburbs, and is 10 the midst Of tolera,
bly, dense population. II stands on a
lot which is 600 feet by $50 feet square
or very little less than nine acres. On
this lot is an old brick building. and
sundry dormitories, built Of wood in the
temporary balloon" style. which Ger
tainly cannot meet the requirements in
regard TO ventilation and temperature SC
necessary in rooms for the sick. But
the most Objectionable feature about the
whole business is that a building within
this nine acre lot, and in the milst o.
the population aforementioned, and i'm
pinging on the very town itself, is dc
voted to the reception Of smallpox
cholera and yellow fever pstientsi In
fact all sick grist Of the town is carried
10 one mill. All is fish that comes into
that net. A poor stranger, ill Of pneu'
monia, or with his arm broken, is car
ried to the hospital to get the smallpox
the cholera or yellow fever. Persons
accustomed TO the management of hos
pitfalls elsewhere will tell US that there
can be no objection whatever to a hos
pital as a neighbor where the manage
ment is proper and no contagious dis
eases admitted. Very true. But ours il
a pest house, and has been for years, anC
We don't seem to know but that our syt
TEN has been correct the whole time
You have no right whatever to jeop
ardize the lives of fifty poor patients by
admitting into their midst the contagium
of disease which is moro fearful than
an army with banners. They go to your
hospital to be treated and nursed, and i
possible cured of diseases, not to gel
innoculated with smallpox and get theii
death. 1t may be that but few persons
under treatment at the hospital have
been attacked by contagious diseases
contracted within the yard. That is nj
answer to our objection. Smallpox
fever and cholera hospitals are Away
separate institutions, in civilized com
munities, from general hospitals. Their,
are thirty hospital in New York city, al
of which arc forbidden to receive pa
tents suffering with contagious diseases
separate provision being made for thos'
sufferers. We heard the other day witt
what promptness the Board of Healtl
OF the great metropolis seized a yelloV
fever patient from this city and place
the premises under guard. Now wha
would have been the utility of all thi
promptness and special energy had til
afflicted person been transferred to Belle
vue hospital in the midst of the city
Very little, think. But they did no
take him to Bellevue, but to Blackwell
Island, where he could be isolated an,
the contagium stamped out.
Is it fixed principle in the minds o
this community to ignore its duties il
regard to public health and public char
tiles? 1t is said that the buffalo calf an,
the ostrich. when pursued, have fash
ion of sticking their heads int th,
grass, and because they see nothing
themselves, believe that they are invisi
BILE? In this matter of sickness are W,
to be forever classed with the foolish
bird with the brilliant plumage, or the
young beast of three moonsY Surely
not; we will learn something by our sore
experience. Some statesman or other
has said that no people ever lost any
thing by its public charities. If th'
proposition should be doubted in regart
to other places, we venture that it vii
hold good here, as nothing has ever beer
given that any body knows of. Look a
the old hospital and the tumble down
old poor house, and say if we are no
right Friends and neighbors, this nigh
have all been very we'll in the days
when our town was infant, but it will
not do now.