The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-01-02
GRIPPE'S VICTIMS.
They Have Helped to Crowd the State
Insane Asylum.
HOW THE UNFORTUNATES THERE
HAVE FARED.

The Reports Show Them To BE Wen
Cared for, Except That There Is Pitt
full Lack of Room-So Crowded Is the
Hospital That Patients Sleep on Cots in
the Corridors--Grippe Causes Many
Deaths.
AUGUSTA, December 31.-The reports
on the Maine Insane Hospital for the
past year have been made to the govern
or and council. The year has been
very prosperous one. There have been
expended in repairs and alterations $16,-
5000. The report of the treasurer
shows that he had on hand December 1,
1891. 80, 125.15; collected during the year
from other sources, S163, 1866; total,
S165, 1850. The total disbursements
were $161, 1862, leaving balance in the
treasury December l, 1892, of $4O34.
Superintendent Sanborn, in his report,
notes the freedom from accidents, not
withstanding the great number of pa
tients with homicldal and suicidal i'm
pulses. There has been no outbreak of
epidemic diseases.
At the beginning of the year, Decem-
Der /, 1891, there were resident in the
hospital 673 patients, 355 men, 318 wom-
en-. Two hundred and sixty-nine have
been admitted since, 1877 men, 102 wom-
en-, making the whole number under
treatment 942, of which 522 are men and
42O women. Of these there have been
discharged 2s7, 165 men and 92 women,
leaving at close of year 6S5, 357 men and
1928 women.
M. -, oo,,+ &c ,aooxyor; oo fn,. tho v,ac%
year based upon the number under treat
ment has not materially changed, being
7.43 against 1928 the preceding year. The
per cent of recoveries based upon the
number of admissions has been 26.02
against 25.75 the preceding year. The
tabulations show the daily average num-
ber of patients has been much in excess,
being 6S5 the present year against $40
embraced in the period of the last re-
port. The per cent of deaths based up
on the number under treatment is slight
ly increased, being 9.41 the present and
Sol the preceding year. The death rate
is increased in consequence of the admis-
sion of patients advanced in years, and
the grippe, which. says the superinten-
dent, has been productive of mental
trouble throughout the state and in
creased the admissions. I'm consulting
our statistics we find that this disease
has induced mental arrangement more
particularly among the aged, and with
mental and physical powers already wan
ing. with the subsequent ill effects OF
the grippe superadded, death as a rule
has soon ensued after admission to the
hospital
The patients have been supported in
the following manner: Fifty lone by their
own means, 81 entirely by the state, and
547 have received state aid of $1.50 q
week, towns and individuals paying the
balance.
Superintendent Sanborn emphasizes
the necessity of further provisions for
the insane, and says the need this year is
more apparent, the daily average being
SO in excess of last year. He says: AT
the present time every available room In
the wards is occupied by patients, and
we are obliged to provide for 153 by
sleeping them on cots in the open corri-
dors, placing them under the supervis-
| ion Of night attendants. Aside from the
danger incident in providing for the in
sane in this manner, this excess of pa
tients over the proper capacity
of the institution, must necessarily les
sen the the patients opportunities for
comfort and recovery, and can but fail to
meet the highest purposes for which the
| institution was established.
'sIn the event of an epidemic, which is
likely to occur more frequently when
large numbers are domiciled, this excess
| of patients above our normal capacity
would greatly embarrass u.s.