New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-03-06
TO ENLARGE NEW HOSPITAL
TREATMENT OF CONSERVATIVES ON
BLACKwELLs A SUCCESS
COMMISSIONER FOLKS WILL ASK FOR $4,000

COMMISSIONER FOLKS WILL ASK FOR $4,000
TO EQUIP THREE MORE BUILDINGS
Through the efforts of Commissioner Homer
Folks. of the Charities Department, and num-
Der of physicians a big step forward toward
the proper care Of persons suffering from pull
monary tuberculosis who are too poor to pay
for private medical attendance has been made.
With appropriation of about $4,000. 1t is
thought, greater advancement can be made.
It Is said that Commissioner Folks intends to
ask for this appropriation in a few days For
some time a hospital for the special treatment
of consumption has been in operation on Black
wells Island, and a careful study of some of the
cases received there has shown that the island
is we'll suited for the treatment of that disease.
that there is better spot for the housing of
such patients within the limits Of Manhattan
and The Bronx and that three more buildings
on the island could quickly be transformed for
hospital purposes at a small cost. These island
buildings could be maintained at far less ex-
pense than that Of building new hospital and
maintaining separate staff.
OF the 100 patients now housed in the special
building for consumptives on Blackwelrs ISL
and twenty-siX were placed on the best possible
diet. and everything within the power of the
house and attending physicians done to
build up their health. The patients under
special treatment not in advanced stages
of the disease. but in ncipient stages.
port relating to the treatment was made by DR..
e. 6. Rankin, one of the attending physicians
at the Metropolitan Hospital about March l
to Commissioner Folks 1t shows that one pa
tient gained from February : to February "a
eight and three-quarter pounds; that nineteen
improved more less, and that six did not
show any gain. gain of weight in such cases
is an excellent sign. it is said. but a far more
toT,fa i16ir
is the finding of less tubercle baciui in the
sputum. In cases this change was noted
The patients were kept out in the open air
whenever the weather permitted and when they
were within doors much fresh air posi-
bic allowed to enter through the windows
of the rooms in which they were. At this season
of the year the ground around the buildings on
the island is soggy, and therefore the patients
could not be outdoors as much as in summer
when the land is dry and there is little danger
Of getting wet feet.
1t has been said that salt air sometimes has
a bad effect upon the health OF consumptives
and that they are less likely TO be benefited at a
seashore than in a mountainous region, where
the air is almost always dry. A physician in
speaking last night to Tribune reporter about
the results obtained at the special consumptive
hospital said on this phase of the subject: 1T
is true that the air of Blackwell's Island is not
good for consumptives as that Of the Adj
rondacks. but it is a hundred times better for
the Consumptives in poor circumstances than
the air of Manhattan Island, which they must
breathe If they are compelled to stay in their
humble homes"
The consumptives' hospital with three more
buildings. would have a capacity for four hun
dred persons. At present there are about three
hundred consumptVes in the hospitals Of the
Department of Charities In the present build
ing used for the special treatment OF consump-
tives only men housed. Women will be re
ceived in some Of the other buildings.