People's voice., 1900-07-19

There are four Wellington people
in the Santa lie hospital dt Topeka:
Chas. Klllam, Andy ZOOk, Chas. Wing
er and Bill Geyer. KHAN was taken
10 the hospital las. week suffer
ing with typhoid fever. He has
room by himself auo day ana night
nurse for the present. ZoOk, Geyer
and Winger ale COnyalesclug. NlngeT |
will PROBABLY Come hume soon. he
Is rheumatic patient. To Use
railroad expression, ZJOk's boiler aud
fues are out Of repair. He has stom-
ach trouble, ana his boiler and fiues
are washed out every day. First, his
stomach Is pumped out aud then
flushed with medicine. de has to |
swallow a half inch tube eighteen |
inches long when this operation is
done. AT tirst, IL was rather awkward |
for him 10 do this, but ne has become
such an adapt at 1t that he can swal-
low eighteen inches OF hose as easily |
as hungry man can swallow a beef !
steak. The habit is likely to grow on
him before he is cured OF his trouble,
aud it will be necessary TO wean him
from The hose before he can come
home. Bill Geyer was sent from Wei |
lingtOr to the hospital with a mashed
hand and all OF his fingers except two
were amputated. His hand is healing, |
and he Is able tU put in ten hours
every day with the boys in the loung-
ing room. The lOunging room is IOn
the first flnor, and is supplied with
chairs, tables, cots, papers,etc. 1t is
for those who have passed the shirt
tail" stage Of cOnyaleScence. When a
patient is received at the hospital the
| first thing done is 10 strip him. His
clothes are locked up in room in the
top story OF the building, and he
never sees them again until The chief
physician gives him bill Of health
and PASS for home. When Charlie
Killam reached The hospital he was
stripped of his clothes, a rubber
blanket gut under him and a woman
gave him a sponge bath. His clothes
were sent to the top story and locked
up, and he will not see them again
until he gets well, when they will be
given him newly laundered ard fumi
gated. After he gets through with the
fever he will be shirt tail"
convalescent. A shirt that reaches
to his knees will be placed on him and
he will be given bed in the GONZALES
cent ward. He will not he allowed to
put on clothes until he becomes strong
enough to walk around and eat as
much as he desires. There are
twenty or thirty cots in the GONZALES
cent ward, and ZOOk, Geyer and Win
ger all sleep there. If his Erie steady
could see him as he jumps around over
the waxed A ,or 10 his hospital shirt
there would be wedding ring and a
lot Of letters TIED with a ribbon re-
turned TO him. He seems to have
thought OF this, and every time the
door to his ward is opened he bound;
to his bed and gets under cover until
he sees who has entered. As the door
is opened every few minutes, and as
he likes TO be up and around, ne is
kept on the jump good deal. Andy
ZOok really looks worse in his hospital
shirt than WiDger, but he is married
and doesn't seem TO care Tor visl-
LOTS. The other men in the conval-
escent ward complain good deal
ABOUT a young man from Topeka who
has a broken leg. From six to twenty
girls call to see him every day. The
patients who live away from Topeka
get few visitors, and they are DatuT-
ally Jealous Of the Topeka young man,
aud are talking about having him
sent TO the hospital at Las Vegas,
n. NJ, on account Of the climate there.
Four girls came to see him yesterday
morning, and they all took turns at
scratching his heel, which WAS stick
/ ing out OF a bandage ... There is a
Wichita man in the hospital whose
leg was broken aud nearly an inch Of
diseased bone sawed of His leg was
put IN a heavy wooden bandage, the
bones drawn apart and silver nails
Irlyen through the bandage aud
through his leg, to keep the muscles
from drawing the bones together
The broken bones grew out and joined
together perfectly. When the ban.
dage was removed, the physicians
spent five hours in measuring his
limbs TO see if there Was any differ.
ence in their length. The broken leg
was found to be less than a sixteenth
OF an inch shorter than the other
one. An Xray picture Of Andy
looks leg will be taken today. He
has some sUrt OF bone disease-an
enlargement, and the Xrays will be
used 10 determine the nature Of
the enlargement and its extent. -.
The Santa Fe hospital at Topeka is
said to be the finest hospital west Of
Chicago No one can 20 there for
treatment except railroad emplOye
or someone who has teen injured by a
railroad. II railroad employs is
hurt while engaged in work outside
of his duties he is just as
much entitled to 60 10 the
hospital as If he was hurt
while at work for the railroad com.
pauy. The only expense patient is
to while in the hospital is for shaving.
A barber visits the hospital each day.
Shaves cost Is cents each The
nurses at the hospital are nearly all
women. Very few men nurses are
employed, and these are employed
chiefly to do the heavy lifting. When
patient arrives, the head female
nurse Immediately strips him, and
bathes him and registers his tempera-
ture, pulse, respiration, etc. The
house physicians then examine him,
when the nurse gives him medicine.