Waterbury Democrat., 1901-01-31
HOSPITAL FOR CONSERVATIVES.
State Board of Health in It's Report
 Touches on Subject.

|
 Touches on Subject.
 New Haven, Jan Swallowing is an extract from the annual report of the state board of health which is of particular interest at the present time because it pertains to the proposed legislative bill providing for the estab- lishment of a hospital for consump- tives.
 Tuberculosis is not only a preventl- ble disease, but in it's incipient stages it is unquestionably curable But the peculiar nature of the disease and the circumstances of many of its victims are such that the expense of proper Urea tment is prohibitory, even for peo pie of considerab e property, in the ab- sence of any suitable esta Bli ishments in which they can be received and cared for. Hence the majority of consump- lives have only the discouraging pros pect of laboring on while their strength lasts in the same unsanitary environment in which the disease was | acquired. There is a goodly number of consumptives now living in this state who under favorable conditions could De restored to health. The con ntlons necessary to so happy a result ! however, are not available to them as individuals except that by some public benefactions provision is made for their care and treatment collectively. The plea is especially made for the poor, who because of their poverty Will or necessity continue to live in overcrowded habitations and. in an en- yironment most unfavorable to the re- covefy of such patients. Unfortunate 1y the majority of tuberculous patients are poor. Every one of these poor pa uents is, by reason of his circum- stances, unavoidably and inevitably q source of infection 10 others. Those who are associated with him in the intimacy of daily life can rarely es- cape the fatal consequences of such associations, and thus they in turn be- come new, centers of future infection to their companions.
 This proposition to provide at the publlc cost the means of caring for and treating the indIgent victims of consumption is not fancir ul and novel conceit of visionary enthusiasts. In Europe the practice has passed the experimental stages and has demon strated it's claim to wise. prudent and economical statesmanship. The Czar of Russia, the emperor of Austria the kings of Saxony and Sweden, the queen of Holland and the empress of Germany have provided in greater or less degree this sort of contribution to the welfare of their people. Germany could boast ten years ago of over thir- ty senatoria for the consumptive poor Now they are nearly doubled. Among the advocates of these institutions are found the highest sanitary authorities known. The longest experience of consumptive hospitals has been had in England. One, indeed, was estab- lished as early as 1791, the Royal Sea bathing Infrmary for Scrofula The first hospital in the United States for the treatment of consumption was started by the private enterprise of Drs A. L. Loomis and D. L. Trudeau with the benevolent aid of a few ladies and gentlemen in New York. It was located in the Adirondacks near Sar- anac lake in 1884. It is conducted on the cottage system. Still others have been established, stimula ted by philan- thropy or as profitableNbusiness ven ture. But Massachusetts, accustomed as she is to lead in such beneficent un- dertakings, was the first state in the Union to establish by an act of legis- lature q hospital for consumptives. As q result of which the state was able, to anounce that on the first day of October. 1898, the hospital would be i open for the reception of patients. But after all. the practical quest ton is for what good are they? They have demonstrated their usefulness very positively in three distinct ways:
 First. They have proved beyond question the durability of the disease and the means of curing.
 Secondly. For every patient treated in them one source of danger has been removed from the community in which he lived.
 Thirdly They are object lessons and practical schools of public instructions, the teachers being in large part the recovered patients who go back to | their friends living illustra tions of the l tion is incurab1e.
 But, better than that, they are well instructed by personal observation and practical experience in the special pre- | cautions and conduct which they must observe both for their own safety and | that of others.
 The state board of health desire in | this connection to express in strong | terms It's approval of any act of our | legislature looking to the establish | ment of hospital for the treatment | of consumptive poor, erected and con ducted on modern scientific principles, l in laudable imitation of similar insti- | tutions in the states of Massachusetts l. and New York Tuberculosis is at the l present time occupying more public
 attention than any other single sani- tary topic. The simplicity of the
 mode of its communication and the
 efficacy and practicability of avoiding the danger of taking it, gives great en- l. couragement to the belief that it can
 be almost or quite teXterminated. The l state ought not to be backward in af- ! fording all reasonable aid it can ren- 1 der.