The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-11-13
SECRETARY ELF,s REPORT.
Progress and work of the New HaveI
 DispFnsaFy.

New Haven Dispensary made the fol- I lowing interesting report of the work and progress of the dispensary the last
 year at the recent annual meeting:
 With the completion of another year
 the secretary is happy to report most | successful continuance of the beneficent work of the dispensary. The records
 show a total of 17,OS2 consultations, a
 number equaIled only twice in the his- ! tory of the institution. AS compared with last year the work in almost every ! department shows increase. This is es- pecially noticeable, however, in the sur- gical clinic, where an increase in the service of nearly 50 per cent. over that i of any previous year is noted. This is i mentioned because it is believed to par ] ticularly well express the improved ] character of the surgical work which , our better equipment has made possible. 1 This is being appreciated by those hay ] ing minor surgical disabilities and they are coming in greatly increased num- 1 bers to avail of the better treatment we can now offer. Minor surgical opera tions, formerly impossible for lack of proper appliances and surroundings, | can now be performed with success and i with every antiseptic precaution. A gratifying increase is also noted in a small but very important part of the work, the obstetric service, for whereas
 formerly the number Of cases cared for 1 has rarely exceeded fifty, the record
 shows that eighty-seven women have
 availed of this service during the past
 year. ..
 It was feared that in our new and very inviting quarters there might be
 considerable abuse of dispensary priv l ileges by some who could afford to pay for medical service. With a view to
 prevent this the following bill was l passed by the legislature at it's January session of this year: E "An act concerning false representa- tions made to dispensaries.
 l Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general assembly convened: &@@ ' l Any person who obtains medical or surgical treatment from any dispensary located in this state, on false pretenses
 or representations as to his place of
 residence or as to his pecuniary sircum- stances shall be fined not more than
 fifty dollars"
 While this law will doubtless prove in 1 a measure deterrent to many who might
 make improper use of dispensary treat ment, the main burden of excluding such persons must always rest with those conducting the work of the dis J pensary. Realizing this careful scru- 1; tiny of everyone coming for treatment during the past year has been under taken. Every new patient is asked whether he cannot afford to pay for medical advice. and the answer is re-
 corded. Those who admit that they might pay physician are politely told ! that the dispensary is charitable in stitution for those only who are in digent and that they must seek advice elsewhere. On an average perhaps a patient week has been excluded in ! this way. It should be stated that not a few of those thus turned away have come to the dispensary under rnisap- Drehension as to it's purpose and have promptly left when this was explained.
 On several occasions also, MT. Preston Of the Organized Charities or one of 1 his assistants has visited the dispen- sary. has examined our register of pa tients and has scrutinized those waiting on the benches with a view to detecting any impostors. His report has been all ways that he discovered no improper use of our charity
 The rapid advance of our knowledge Of diseases of the stomach during the past few years has seemed to warrant l the establishment of a special clinic for the treatment of such cases in connec- tion with the medical clinic. Dr. McIn- ] tosh has been placed in charge of this I branch of the work and will make use of the most modern methods in the di- agnosis and treatment of the diseases l in question.
 i It has seemed wise, also, to bring together those suffering from tubercu- l losis for the purpose of keeping more careful supervision of their progress and to give them more detailed instruc- l tion as to the measures to be observed l in preventing the spread of their dis
 ease and as to their personal care. To jfacilitate this circular has been pre- pared which is given to each tubercu- lOuS pdblGlBLs luLOlIIllll5 llllli dS tu LllS care of his sputum, as; to his general
 bodily hygiene and as to the measures most calculated to hasten his recovery. 1t is hoped also that some way may be l devised to provide the very poor among these patients with more food than they can ordinarily obtain themselves, I chiefly in the form of milk and eggs. 1 Dr. Sloan, who is in charge of this part of the work, reports that similar dis l tribution of food has now been carried l on for some time at the Post Gradu- l ate hospital and at the Vanderbilt clinic in New York and with much ben- l eft to the patients. Without our pres ent meagre income it seems hardly practicable to appropriate from the dis l pensary's fund the amount, about $500 a year, which would be necessary to
 carry out this plan, but this plan, but it 1 is hoped that someone, understanding the great benefit which would surely
 result, may be interested to provide the
 necessary means, if only for one year.
 In conclusion the secretary would
 make acknowledgment to all who have ] contributed during the past year to the support of the dispensary, and to the finance committee through whose ener- l gies the funds necessary to the carry 1 ing on of the work have been raised. That the physicians in attendance have ! faitl1f11I1vy 5oy.fp,y,,ad t1oair dI1tiac ;c