The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-03
THE FLOWER HOSPITAL.
WORE OF AN INSTITUTION SUP
PORTED by PRIVATE CHdRITI.
How Ex-Gov. Flower Came 20 Found 1t-Open
nay and Night TO tho Poor. irrespective or
ser. Greed. Color, or NntionaiitS-1i We
mans Guiid-In Need OF More Money.

80 49, 49, haAh'a ~ " hA,
tai. A fall cleaning Is going on, and carpen-
tiers, painters, and varnishers are busy from
morning until night getting things shipshape
in the original building. Even the GONZALES
cent patients in the wards and private rooms
arc taking n keen interest in the general reno
walton, and seem to gather renewed strength
from the buzz OF activity and life about them.
Tho Flower Hospital is a small institution
compared with some others, but it is one Of the
most useful charities in this great city OF great
charities. It must give those Interested in its
management great satisfa !tion to be able to re-
port the successful accomplishment of the
purposes for which the hospital was designed
by its founder. Roswell p. Flower. Away
back in 1889, when DR.. William Tod Helmuth,
dean Of the New York homeopathic Medical
College. CHANGED to remark to Mr.. Flower that
q hospital where clinical instruction in sur
gerry might be given to the students was very
much needed in connection with the college,
he perhaps little dreamed that his hope was to
be 30 soon realized.
THAT is So" answered Mr.. Flower. at
is an excellent idea" and Immediately he set.to
work to build such n hospital, at Sixty-third
street and Avenue A, and the next year he pre-
sented 1t to the college. From that day to this
the Flower Hospital has increased not only in
usefulness, but in size rs well. Its objects were
two. One has been mentioned, and the other
was to care for the suffering poor, particularly
those on tho east side. First, the esteem In
which the hospital is held by that class for
which it was intended and. last, statistics prove
that the results aimed at have been fully &C.
complishcd.
1t strikes a chill to go through most hospitals.
A visitor at Flower Hospital does not experience
this feeling. At first he is surprised: then he
begins to look around to see why he does not
hntNt f-N. a MI
want person soon discovers. In the first place
the location could not be moro admirable.
Avenue A is a broad street and hugs the
shore Of the East River very closely. There
is: plenty of good air and it has room to circu-
late untalnted, for the hospital is as much in
the open as II located in n country town.
There are no high buildings to shut Off the
sunshine, and somehow it seems to try TO
beat the scientists about there at their own
game of disinfecting, for it pours into the big
windows OF the wards and private rooms
from morning until night. II 1t can't get
in at one window it does at another. The
building itself is perfectly arranged. The
original intention was to have a hospital de-
voted exclusively to surgical cases. This was
| put up on the corner Of the avenus. and is the
part Of the institution now being overhaulcd.
AS time went on the management saw the
necessity for a medical department. The suf-
fering poor tlocked there in need Of medical.
not surgical. treatment, and the spirit that has
always prevailed in the institution did not
admit OF sending them away unaided. So a
medical department was built and opened a
year ago. To-day there is not a vacant bed in
the house.
'Of course the Flower Hospital does an i'm
mense amount Of charity work, but why
shouldn't 1t. indeedf' answers another.
1t has barrels or money at Its back
This is u not b true; The actual e%nndowments
Flower fund, $4,000; sundry endowments,
$4,000. The total. $3.50 400. wouldn't iii
many barrels i c inverted into cash, and the
running a hospital that has admitted nearly
1000 patients during the last year; Besides.
terest on the funded indebtedness for land, the
erection of buildings and so on. After all, the
subscriptions of its friends for its regular run
ming expenses, and they come forward most
never behind when there is any sign Of hard
times ahead, and there are others who are in
terres,ed enough a utI to go down into their pockets
5;ye Committee, ;. F, Ksrn9chan, T. W peyoe.
George w. Ely and Frederick }. Mott, NJ. D..
This committee meets every. fortnight TO re-
interested in the welfare of the hospital as ho
is in his private affairs.
AMI Lake, n man of wide hospital expert.
ence, is the superintendent. In speaking Of
the work done in the last few years he said:
The work here Is increasing all the time.
hospital. This year the number will run to
nearly. 1000. The total number OF days treat.
1 ihsf II IN i.e :te M 1sss ffs FSc. Yeas iaayi i4;o only an" g.ai out ps OF
work is charity work. We had 1000 ambu.
lance calls last year, against l,234 the year be,
fore. They increase at the rate of 800 IA year,
and we :tand ready to respond, night or day.
The territory covered by the ambulance service
extends from Forty.sccond street to Fifty.ninth,
and from sixth avenue to East River; This
railroad yards above the Grand Central station.
Our patients come from every station in
life. At the, outset the idea was to devote the
hospital exclusively TO the treatment of those
unable to pay, anything, but 1t WAS discovered,
alter IA careful and prolonged examination. that
shamelessly abused by persons well able to pay
for their accommodation or even for treat Inent
designed for absolutely pcnnilcss sufferers.
An effort was made to obviate this evil by in
vestigating the cases and charging ward pa
ticnts who were ablc to pay 81 a day. The ac-
tual average cost Of keeping, ward patients
is 81 a day each. Even under the present
able to pay, for it is Sometimes impossible
to find whether a man or woman is telling tho
law here never to turn a patient away I'M,
less 1t Is one with a contaeiops disease. Tho
@oois that tho e'i Fowe IT HOSPITAL lie pi aiISii IS open " at ali
times to the poor. irrespective Of sex. creed,
color, or nationality, We have nine private
ooiAS '' w oN'ohu iiooi vi u WIN NV
sion. Each one has been furnished by an indi-
viduall, and the prices range from Sl5 70 $50
patients, and in the wards two or three nurses
attend. to twelve patients. We have no train
ing. school for nurses. but the trustees are agi-
one will be started this fall. 1t is possible to
get a much better hold on nurses in a hospital
where there Is u training school. Then their
object is to get a diploma, but a nurse who
h9s, a diploma is always looking out Tor u case
with more money in it,"
Without tho aid OF the Woman's Guild tho
Flower Hospitals record for good works would
fall far short of what it is. Mrs. William Tod
Helniuth, formerly President of Sorosis, is at
the head of this organization. 1t Is chartered
by the state OF New York, was Incorporated
and now has upward Of $50 members. They
take entire charge of the housekeeping and
really make OF the hospital a home. The Guild
not only, furnished the house wards, rooms,
Kitchen, laundry, &c.-bnt later took charg c OF
its entire domestic management. All the sup
plies, the indebtedness 10 servants and matrOn
are paid from its treasury. The arrangement
and disposition of clothing. bedding, linen
AMI laundry work and all those hnra,sing de.
tails necessary TO successful housekeeping arc
assumed by tho women OF this organization.
UNln., nos frn,, UEnn ~ A-En ,,,nntI,,y I,,x-uY III