The record-union., 1891-03-05
THEY ARE SADLY NEEDED.
A New Receiving Hospital and City
and County Dispensary.
Chairman Greer of the Supervisors
Says They Will Be Built-Dr.
Nichols Talks.

The Board of ofSupervisors is expected to
transact some important business before
| the close of this weeks session.
A resolution is being prepared by
Messrs. Greer and Black, to be presented
to the board either to-day or tomorrow,
calling for the appointment of commit
tee whose duty it will be to confer with
| City Physician C. B. Nichols and Sheriff
Stanley regarding plans for hospital,
dispensary and female ward, which it is
| proposed to erect and add to the court
! house structure.
This matter has been talked of before,
and was to have been introduced at the
last session of the board, but through
some oversight was neglected.
CRYING NECESSITY.
eyes, think it will be attended to i'm
mediately," said Chairman Greer to a
RECORD UNION reporter yesterday, ''and
| l am confident that the board is unani-
nous in the opinion that the proposed
addition is badly needed. In fact, it is a
crying necessity. 1t should have been
attended to long ago, but it has always
! been put off on one pretext or another.
Plans and specifications will be drawn
up Immediately, and the building will in
|
| MY idea" continued Mr.. Greer sis to
tear down the old dispensary-that is if it
doesn't fall down itself before we get at il
and erect the new building on what is
now the jail yard, and where the prison
dining-room and kitchen stands. This
dining-room affair is in about the same
condition as the dispensary structure is
now-ready to tumble in at any moment.
The new building should be a two-story
structure, with direct connection with
the County Jail and also with the street.
The second story should be fitted up with
cells exclusively for female prisoners,
with the exception, perhaps, of couple
| OF cells for insane persons. The lower
! floor should be arranged for receiving
hospital with a separate ward for sick and
injured prisoners, and with the city dis
| penSary connected. 1t is an absolute
necessity and we cannot afford to delay
any longer. 1 don't think it will cost
over $1,000 or $4,000 at the most, and then
the citizens will have perfect institu-
tion."
| DIR. NICHOLS TALKS.
City Physician Nichols was enthusiastic
over the proposition when visited by the
reporter. 81 have howled and begged for
| this improvement until / am worn out. -
he said. ''Is it needed? Why, bless YOU,
1 can't think of anything Sacramento
needs more than it just now, unless it is
salvation. But all joking aside. this
should have been done long ago. Better
later than never, however. The Grand
Jury recommended it long ago, but some
how or other it was never done. You see
1t is very important that the public med
1cal business should be concentrated, to
say nothing of the changes and improve
ments needed at the County Jail. AT
present | have to attend to the INDECENT
sick and dispense medicines to them in
this little tumble-down shanty on the east
| side of the courthouse, and it is so
rickety now that it is liable to cave in at
any moment. The floor says, and is full
of holes, and the roof lets in the rain l
have to keep all my drugs in the same
room that consult my patients.
"Now, remember, this building is at
Seventh and l streets. AT any moment I
am liable to receive message that some
| body has been injured and my services
are needed at the Receiving Hospital,
| which, you know, is down at the Police
Station. That person might die before /
could get down there, whereas, if the
hospital and dispensary were all in one,
as is proposed, l could be right there, and
no time would be lost. But these are not
the only reasons why the improvement is
| needed, by any means. Prisoners at the
County Jail
ARE CONTINUALLY GETTING SICK,
And where are you going to put them =?
| NO place; except to keep them i'm their
dark and unhealthy cells. There should
be separate apartment in the new build
ing for these persons. Why, do you
know, / have a patient in the Jail now,
who is suffering with broken leg, and
for lack of any better place to keep him,
he lies in his dungeon. I even had to
send outside to get bed for him. 1t is a
disgrace to the county, and / am glad, il
even for only humanity's sake, that a
change is to be made.
| But | would not suggest that the Re
ceiving Hospital and jail hospital be con-
nected. Many people meet with acci-
dents on the streets, and are carried to the
Receiving Hospital, who feel much en-
! barrassed, as do their friends, too, to think
that that they have been thrown in with
a lot of thieves and other criminals. AS
! it is now the hospital is in the police
station and the odium is all the more en-
| barrassing. Another thing: The County
Jail is absolutely without accommoda-
| tions for female prisoners and insane per-
sons. They are all thrown into one
common Jail. The most respectable per-
son in the world might lose his reason,
and, if he is taken in hand by the author
tiles, under the present arrangements, he
is cast into cell with lot of hobos and
| larcenistS, like a common criminal 1t is
not the fault of the Jail officials-they have
no better accommodations to offer There
should be separate apartments for the
female prisoners and insane persons"
|