Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-10
FREE MEDICAL AID.
What the PittSburg DispenSary Has
Done for Many UnfOrtunateS.
THE MANAGERS ANNUAL REPORT.
Governor Beaver Gets Left Handed Com
pliment for His Veto.
YOU ARE INVITED 10 GIVE YOUR MITE


and 96 Sixth avenue, yesterday issued its
sixteenth annual report. The Board OF
Managers is composed Of Messrs. Levi ID.
Harris, President; c. c. Baer, Treasurer;
S. n. Benham, NJ. D., Vice President; Geo.
F. Smith, Secretary; Reuben Miller, Will
lam Thaw, VIM. OH. Scully, A. koenig,
ND, ]. A. Lippincott, N. d., j. j.
Buchanan, NJ. D., F. Semple, D. Leet Will
son. Chas. F. Wells, John M. Kennedy,
W. E. Schmertz, Geo. X. Stevenson, John
Dunlap, Jas. /. Buchanan, D. Herbert
Hostetter and Colonel j. Collard.
The managers state that the report was
not issued at the end of the sixteenth year,
March 81 last, on account of the absence of
the President at the time, and then was
further delayed by the Johnstown calamity.
The sixteenth year ended with an indebted
ness of 500, and since then, owing TO unto
ward circumstances, it has increased to
81, 500. 1t is hoped that when manufacture
ers come to realize that the greater number
of people who apply at the dispensary for
relief are persons employed by them and
that the relief afforded saves them much
money they might be called upon to supply,
the manufacturers aforementioned will see
their way clear to putting the institution on
It's feet
During the past year there were 10,042
calls at the dispensary for relief, $50 visits
were made to the homes of patients too Ill to
call at the dispensarv, and AS cases were
prescribed for in the Offices of the physicians,
making in all II, $50 calls on their valuable
time. The apothecary dispensed11, SS1 pre-
scriptions. The management states that
such services cannot be computed In the
coin Of the realm.
A tribute is paid the memory Of DR..
David Hostetter and VIM. Thaw, whose
death foots a total of eight of the original
corporators who have passed from time to
eternity.
A TOUGH TIME OF IT.
The dispensarv has had a rocky road to
travel Its building on Sixth avenue,
which originally cost So, 900, had its walls
cracked and was thrown out of plumb by
excavation on adjoining property and was
condemned by the Building Inspector and
the management was compelled to take it
down. A new building, costing SIS, 900, is
being erected and it is expected to be ready
for occupancy by November I. The
necessity for its erection and
rent Of another building meantime
have forced the use of the endowment
fund and the borrowing of money. 1t is
desired to make the new dispensary, as far
as possible, the center of the organized char
tiles of the city, and with this object in view,
part of the building has been placed at the
disposal of the Society for the Improvement
of the Poor, which will be availed of by
them on its completion. They also have
small lecture room, which may be used free
of charge by charitable organizations for
lectures concerts and other entertainments
for charitable purposes.
The last Legislature was asked for bread,
and gave it by large majority, but the
Governor petrifed the bequest in the un-
favorable report of the State Board of Char
titles, which regarded the dispensary as a
mere local charity. and only entitled to
local support While the management re-
spects the Governors prerogative, it never
theless hits him between the lug and the
horn for discriminating against the dispen-
sary, giving it a stone while hospitals,
whose scope is no more general, were allowed
bread.
WORSE AND WORSE.
In this respect the dispensary has been
singularly unfortunate. Its first apphca-
tion for State aid was curing the session of
of 1S76-'77, when though the Committee on
Appropriations recommended the applica-
tion, NJ bills of that character were finally
acted upon. During the session of 1SS0-81,
$4,000 were asked for, and the Appropria-
ton Committee agreed to give it, pro-
vided a like amount was raj sd here
BY private contributions for an endowment
fund. The amount was promptly raised,
but the member in charge neglected to call
up the bill for action at the proper time. In
1928 both Houses agreed to appropriate
$4,000, but Governor Pattison vetoed the
bill. Discouraged in this direction, the
management proposei to get along without
State help and by borrowing from the en-
dowment fund were getting on fairly we'll
until the accident to the Dispensary build
ing entailed cost of So, 900 and the last
hope was dashed to the ground by Governor
Beaver.
1t is estimated that the work done has
saved the community $500. 900, and proved
the right OF the dispensary to exist, and the
public is asked to contribute sufficient to
pay running expenses and erect the build
ing and make the endowment fund whole.
The report OF the general medical depart
ment shows 2,7S5 cases treated during the
past year; that of the surgical department
70S cases; eye and ear department, 423
cases; total number of operations on the
eye, IS; diseases of the ear, 80; opera
tlons on the ear, 8: total number
OF cases and operations on eve and ear, ,15S;
cases treated in the genealogical depart
ment, 205; cases of skin diseases treated, GA;
cases of diseases of nose and throat treated,
225; visits to the dispensary during the year,
ending March 81, 1889, 10, ,4S2; cases treated
during same period, $500; visits made to
patients at their homes, $780, and Office calls,
448, in the outdoor relief department.; pre-
scriptions issued by the apothecary, Il, ,S3l.