Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-05
NEW BUILDINGS NEEDED
Annual Report on the freedmen's Hos
pitah
Present Frame Structures So Dflap-
dated and Exposed That They
Cannot BE Heated Properly.

The annual report d Frsedmen's Hospital
| was made public today! Fhe number of in
patients treated during the year was 2,314
| The number of out-patients treated was
AID. The total number of patients treated
| within the wards and dispensary was 7.1o3
| Admission TO the hospital was denied to
| Dds, who We're not eligible under the rules
governing the admission of patients
| Twenty-Five of the deaths recorded occur
| red within forty eight hours after admis-
| sion. due to the fact that many patients
| We're brought to the hospital in a dying
| condition. Four hundred and twenty-eght
surgical operations were performed. in
Guiding some of the most difficult known
| to science with only 5 deaths showing a
percentage of only 1.16 The death rate for
| all causes has been I'll. Excluding the
cases admitted in moribund and those dying
| in the consumptive wards, the death rate
| is only 425.
Referring to the needs of the institution,
the Surgeon-in-chief says:
New Buildings Needed.
1T becomes Necessary to reiterate the
plea for new mad modern hospital build
ings. During the past year there has been
ample Illustration of the depressing con-
dition which confro1lts the inmates who
occupy such ill-adapted frame buildings
and the pressing and urgent necessity Of
more substantial brick structures The
present frame structures are so dia pidated
and exposed that it is practically impossi-
Bile to heat them, especially during such
severe weather as was experienced last
winter, when cold air and snow found easy
access to the wards through the many
crevices that are beyond repair 1t IS nee
essary to rely wholly on stoves to furnish
such heat as can be secured, and some Of
the wards remain cold, damp and ,noldy
through quite a period, in spite of the 800
tons of coal consumed. After escaping the
dangers of winter. the perils of summer
come. During one of the recent storms the
frame buildings narrowly escaped destruc-
ton. Some of them visibly swayed and
rocked, while a portion of one was COM
pletely demolished 1t was only through
the self-sacriiicing devotion of the nurses
and their remarkable presence of mind that
a frightful panic was averted among the
poor and helpless sufferers A fire starting
among these inflammable structures would
find splendid fuel for fearful conhagra
ton that would result in Understandable in
jury and death.
The Training school.
THE work of the training school for
nurses is steadily gaining recognition, as
evidenced by the large number of gradu-
ates who are constantly employed in pri-
vate nursing, which clearly demonstrates
the value of such training as a practical
working basis for young colored women.
New fields are also opening, that the
graduates from the school are filing posi-
tons as superintendent of nurses to the
number of eight in various hospitals re-
Gently established in different parts of the
country. The annual number of applicants
for admission to the, training school is con-
stantly increasing, thus permitting a more
careful selection Of higher grade appli
cants. Many of the muses. are graduates
of normal schools and Semnaries, holding
teachers certificates Such women elevate
the standard of the training school for OBJ
viOus reasons, and notably increase the
good care and nursing received by the in
mates of the hospital, which is the primary
object of the training school in connection
with hospital nursing" -