The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-04-24
FOR CONTAGIOUS HOSPITAL
HEALTH OFFICERS PETITION THE
 COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL.

l
 form Will Recommend That the Board
 of Health be Authorized to Select Lo-
 cation and That Bonds Be Issued lmme-
 diately.
 The necessity of hospital for conta- gious diseases for the city of New Ha- ven was discussed by President Fleisch-
 ner and Health Officer Wright before the committee on retrenchment and re- form last evening.
 Dr. Wright said that the question
 had been before the different boards for four years and that there had been no opposition to the building of such an institution from the citizens or from the press. The legislature has amend ed the city's charter so as to provide for the issuing of bonds to defray the expenses of erecting a hospital No 1 committee had voted against it, and everything had looked favorable to the scheme until it reached the board of 1 finance, which had become a sort of a cemetery for certain measures Since the city has forbidden the establish ment of private hospitals for conta- 1 gious diseases it has become more imperative duty that public one | should be erected. It seems to me that you gentlemen can provide some way that this measure may escape the or | deal of the board of finance and have the court of common council provide for the raising of the money by direct vote.
 Dr. Fleischner addressed the commit tee, saying that the need of such an in- stitution was imperative; that the city sustained a great economic loss every year because it had no hospital where a patient suffering with scarlet fever or diphtheria could be taken and the i rest of the city be entirely free from inoculation. The loss to the business men of the city when there is a conta- gious disease scare is incalculable
 Take a working man with a large family of children and let the scarlet | fever or diphtheria break out in it. What are the ordinary means used to prevent the spread of the malady? The house is quarantined. The husband cannot go to his work, the children are not allowed to go to school and the | grown-up ones are debarred from go- ing to their places of business. No dan ger now; all precautions have been talk en and the city is safe This is the ac- 1 cepted idea
 l But, gentlemen. what are the facts?
 The man spends his time in the neigh boring beer saloon. talking to his asso- ciates These go to their honc~ and carry the disease with them. The chill | dren are allowed to play with other | children in the back yards, coming in 1 contact with a far greater number of them than if at school The young people not allowed to go to work in the l daytime frequent the dancing halls at night.
 l It is unnecessary to tell you gentle men of the committee, what the result | of such a condition of things is. l If you build thoroughly equipped hospital the patient may be taken there and the city will be safe. We do not want a pest house. and the institution should be kept free from pestilential maladies. The house from which the | patient is taken may be fumigated inn | Hleu1dLtly, anu tNtl yOic Adii bo ebpouS | his work.
 | I wish to say to the committee that while $50,000 should be appropriated at l once, bear in mind that the building l should be so constructed so as not to be a menace to the health of the locality in which it is situated, and it can be. | The family of the superintendent of one of the hospitals for contagious dis eases in one of our large cities lives 1 there. and his children play in the cor riders.
 There should be fumigating engine | provided This would cost about $1 ,00O and it is of as much importance to de- | stroy a contagion as it is to put out 8 | fire. The interest on the money bor | rowed would be S2,O00, the salary of | two policemen. Which is more import | ant, gentlemen?
 l I hope that you will act promptly | for when our next epidemic comes we will be no more prepared to cope with | it than we were before, and then there will be a general outcry for such an | institution as we favor, but let me tell | you, gentlemen, it will be too late.
 In answer to Councilman Whites in- auiry as to the danger from such an institution, Dr. F1eischner said, that | the hospital was a dramatically sealed box, the air being drawn in through a | flue by means of fan, and after cir | culating in the room finds it's way to | the furnace where it is burned. The | ventilation is not provided for by means of windows" When asked if any site had been selected, the speaker said that the old Atwater property near Water street park had been se- lected once, but there never had been any money appropriated.
 The idea of a pest house had taken hold of the citizens of that part of the town and the matter had been allow ed to drop. The doctor wished to dis abuse everyones mind of the pest house idea. The board of health was asking for a hospital for contagious diseases to save carrying patients five miles. The building should be erected in the center of the city. It would cost about $30. 900, including the fumigating en- zine The interest on the balance, $20. GOO, would go a great ways in de- fraying the ordinary expenses of the institution.
 It is not intended that the hospital shall be a free institution, but that those persons able to pay for treat ment will be expected to do so Two cases were cited where men whose fam