The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-07-09
The Eve and Ear 1nfirmarx.


of the institution desire to make the fol-
lowing statement to the public: For the
past nine years this institution has held
daily clinic for the free treatment of the
poor who are unable to pay. During this
time there has been an attendance of more
than $4,000 and more than 5000 operations
have been performed. This work has all
been done gratuitiously by the medical in
Urinary. It's object is two fold: a. To
prevent suffering, Dlindess and deafness.
e. To preserve and to restore health,
sight and hearing. To accomplish this
two-fold purpose the infirmary is divided
into an out-patient department and an in
patient department. In the out-patient de-
partment, clinics are held daily by cCmpe-
tent physicians and surgeons for the free
treatment of the poor for all diseases.
Thus person who is too poor to pay for
the medical treatment needed may attend
these clinics and receive treatment with
out remaining away from his home or
even his daily occupation. For by attend
ing to the treatment of disease in its early
stage, suffering, loss of time and disastrous
results are prevented so that a patient may
be attacked with a serious disease and have
1t cured without loss of time from his work
"a very important item to the poor, who
are dependent upon their daily wages for
their support.
In doing this two-fold work the infirmary
renders a service to the poor. that can be OBJ
tanned in no other way. 1t also dissent
mates a knowledge of diseases in The COM
manity that can be obtained in no other
way.
The only institution that ever attempted
a similar service for the poor of the city
was the Portland Dispensary which while
in it's active work for more than a score
of years, received an appropriation from
the city to pay it's expenses. The Portland
Dispensary never had home of its own
OF proper place to treat patients, hence
it became difficult to find competent physi-
clans to serve on its staff and it finally ran
out and ceased to exist.
The infrmary has taken up the work OF
the Portland DispensaIy by providing one
of the best out-patient departments to pc
found connected with any Institution IN
the country and has supplemented this
work by an inpatient department where
those patients who att end the out-patlenL
department. may be taken in. nursed and
cared for in a proper manner whenever
IS their diseases demand it. Acting upon the
precedent established for years by the CITY
in appropriating money. to the Portland
Dispensary, which cared for small number
of thespoor compared with the Work Done
by the intirmary for the poor OF the city.
the trustees asked the city for an approprl-
alton each year since the institution began
its organized work of relief. The lnhrmary
is largely dependent upon voluntary contrl-
buttons to accomplish It's work It's salaries les
upon business principles SO as to make de-
mands for contributions as light as poss1ble.
1t has always received from the state, city
and individuals amounts consistent with
these demands. The amounts received from
the city in the aggregate are no more than
single individuals have done for the mfr
a
the good work go on. The proprlety OF Jne
city paying a small part. of the necessary
expense incurred in rendering similar
but less extensive service to its poor has
been sanctioned by usage for quarter OF a
century in it's relations with the Portland
Dispensary. For seven years money mas
been paid to the infrmary by the city, as a
partial recompense for the service rendered,
without a question, ana there WouIu NOT
have been any at this time had not peou-
liar circumstances arisen coupled with mis-
representation. II is not necessary TO go
into the details Of these nisrepresent
but to spend.the time and space al our us
posal in dwelling upon Facts.
There have been several instances where
patients have been taken from the aims
house and city hospital in to the intirlnary
had their board anu treatment given theIn,
and have gone out into the world seiI-sup-
porting. Out of the hundreds of persons
who have had cataracts removed from
their eyes and their sight restored scores
have coEle from the poor of the city ana
have thus been enabled to be once more
self-supporting. To prevent blindness ana
restore Sight IS reckoned in vital statistics
equal to the saving of life and on this oasis
alone the indrmary is doing d WORK Tor the
poor that has never been attempted BY any
other Institution and compared with when
the work of any otner charity hoWeHTser
plausible pales into insigniicance. me
pleu that in the city approprIatlng money
to pay fractional part of the actual ser
vice rendered to the poor BY, the infirmary
there will be established a dangerous pre-
cedent for other charities fails to find, a
Judgement in the minds of any one CONVEX
SAINT with the facts for nc. other charity at
tempts to do such an extensive and valu-
able service for the poor of the city. While
in the preservation and restoration of sight
and hearing OF the poor the inirmary
treats all diseases of the poor in the out
patient department and renders its greatest
service in teaching the people how to pre-
vent disease and disastrous results by pro-
viding place where the poor can go daily
and receive skillful treatment in the early
stages of disease when such treatment is
universally successful thus preventing loss
of time long suffering and disastrous re-
suits among which Is blindness the great
est calamity that can befall mankind
There Is in the infirmary at the prese MT
timesanslnfant whose eyes are afflicted with
disease fatal to sight, but under timely
treatment the eyes have been saved. A
few weeks since another infant was
brought just In time to save the sight and
the great benefits of the institution were
most forcibly illustrated when in few
days another infant with its mother came
too late the sight having already been de-
StrOy0Q anu the Cnllu made DuQQ forever.
These terrible lessons of neglect or s'too
late" are constantly coming to the I'M irma-
ry and it would not take many, of them to
convince the most skeptical if he were IN
eye witness of the Importance of the mfr
mary and the great work it is constantly
doing for the poor. He would not long be
witness of the work before he would decide
that it was duty as well as a privilege to
do what he reasonably could to support this
institution.
Laying aside all considerations of human
ity and sentiment and looking at the work
done by the Intirmary from a politico-econo-
mic point of view one must come to the
same conclusion; for according to the CEN
sIs of the United states the State of
Maine sustains loss of more than S100, 600
Zone hundred thousand dollars from blind
ness resulting from the ravages of but
single disease of the eyes of infants. AS
Stunning that Portland sustains her proper
tionaIe part of this loss we have pay sums
ten times the amount asked for to help to
care for this class of cases and thus pre-
vent4this blindness. The only way to. pre-
vent this enormous loss to the city and
state is to eradicate the disease that
causes, to cure it in it's earlier stage. This
work is being done by the infirmary in a
most satisfactory way aided by the act for
the prevention of blindness which became
a law of the state in June 1891
In doing this work for the city the inf fir
mary performs SerVica for its moor tho jS