The Indianapolis journal., 1896-01-30
DISPENSARY MAY GO
SANITARY ASSOCIATION OPENS EYES
OF BOARD OF HEALTH.
Medical Colleges to BE Asked To As
sist I'm Caring for the Sick Poor
milk Inspector Named.

The Board of Health met last night and
spent some time in the consideration of
matters pertaining TO the department, es-
pecially those questions which have arisen
concerning the City Dispensary. DR.. Nor
rison made the suggestion that the present
building be abandoned altogether and the
work carried on in the dispensaries of the
medical colleges under the direction of the
board. The report from The committee ap-
pointed by the Indianapolis Sanitary Asso-
citation to investigate the dispensary and
hospital had something to do with the ac-
tive interest taken in the matter by the
board. This committee was composed of
Lucy Emerson Johnson. Hester VI. McClung
and Emma F. Boyd. The report says:
IF our citizens understood the situation
at the dispensary as they ought, they GER
tainly would rise in their might and de-
mand that something be done at once. If
We were surprised at the hospital condi-
tions, We were more than doubly so at the
dispensary. If 1t were. private house
We would not rest until ii was condemned.
1t is not habtable. is not sanitary, and
above all is disgrace to our city. Could
we have it condemned? If there is any
possibility, We do not want TO wait until
the work is accomplished. 1t being city
institution. we are not quite clear as to our
right in that respect.
The room I'm the rear of the reception
room was for special treatment of eye, ear
and throat II was small. poorly lignted
and ventilated, with no way of heating,
only by leaving the door between the two
rooms open on such days as operations
were to be performed. Across the hall, the
consultation room was found in a very d.
lapidated condition-plastering off, paper
hanging down, floors settled and uneven.
We felt astonished that a physician should
be asked to stay in such surroundings, but
felt more so when We saw where he slept
and counted the places where the matron
had pasted cloths over the holes to keep
the wind out.
''The drug store was in the rear of the
consultation room. The conditions were
much worse-very little light, scarcely any
ventilation. The physician in charge was
very pale, and really looked more i'll than
small and narrow. When the two rows of
chairs we're filled IL left very little space
for one to pass upstairs to the operating
o0tl TO think of nersons r being carried up those
stairs and backed out of a window at the
foot and into the little room at the head or
the stairs, where the cloths were pasted, Is
dreadful"
COLLEGES ASKED TO ASSIST.
The committee makes the suggestion that
in the poverty of the city cooperation with
some other dispensary be had. DR..
Morrison put this suggestion to the board
and it was accepted as a possible means of
solving the present difficulty. The present
a dispensary, and the city has not the mony
with which to erect a new building. DR..
Morrison said that two new buildings are
really needed, one of which shall be an
emergency hospital. At the present barn
like structure there Is no place where in
jured persons can be cared for properly.
DIR. Ferguson was delegated to consult the
faculties of the different medical colleges
and see If there cannot be some co-opera-
ton whereby patients may receive treat
ment. There are five medical colleges in
the city. The expression was offered that
the methods of the different schools might
result in confusion. The board would have
control Of each dispensary, in the event of
such a cooperation, with an interne at
each.
The board appointed w. NJ Arnold milk
inspector, as he received the highest mark
of the Democrats in the competitive exam
ination. Mr.. Arnold scored the total \ of
ffty-six points on his examination, and
besides his application bore the names of
such well-krfown Democrats Is Albert Sahm,
Sterling r. Holt, w. o. Reveal and Henry
Spaan. Mr.. Arnold is fifty-seven years of
age and Presbyterian He has beep en-
gagged in the milk business for many years,
and is consequently supposed to know all
the ins and outs Of the business. Mr.. Ar
nolds appointment by the board amounts to
a recommendation to the Board of Safety
that Arnold be granted police powers. In
the same connection Ii Is interesting to re-
call that when the present board came into
Office Harry Walker. a clerk OF the depart
ment, was dismissed because he was over
forty at the time of his appointment. Mr..
Arnold is fifty-seven.
The examination papers did not average
as high as anticipated The questions put
for the average milkman. The applicants
for the position We're J. II Johnson, A. E.
Elster, E. L. Miner and o. c. Myers.
The board decided to consult the Board of
Works relative to the plans for improve
ments at the hospital.