The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1903-12-19
MARION COUNTY HOSPITAL
ITS DEEDS And ITS NEEDS
This Is a Good Time to Remember
the First and Relieve the Last

Up to a few years ago, the idea was
prevalent among Christian people that
suffering had a refining, a Christening
influence; that many times it was sent
by the Almighty in order 10 make peO-
pie better. And even now this Opin-
ion holds sway in the minds of many.
But suffering does not make people
better in this life. 1t distresses their
minds as well as their bodies, embit-
tiers their tempers, warps their judg.
ment, and generally makes them impa-
tient and unjust, even TO those who try
TO bring them comfort and relief. 1t
is true that there have been many
great and good men and women who.
though afflicted with disease or de-
formity, have lived noble and useful.
and sometimes distinguished lives.
But it is impossible to say how much
better they might have been, how
much more good they might have
done, had their minds dwelt in heal
thy bodies. So everything that goes
TO lessen the sum total of sorrow and
pain. every kind act. and everything
that makes kind actions easier to do
and more lasting in effect, is a help
in lifting our race to that high plane
that all good men and women hope it
will attain some day.
Medical men have ever been less in
fluenced by the belief in the efficacy
of suffering than other people. They
have always tried to Danish pain, or
at least alleviate it, rather than teach
their patients to bear it. To the men,
bers of the medical profession is due
the credit for the discovery, the in
vention and the institution of nearly
all the influences that go to make the
lives of human beings longer, clean
er, and more free from pain. The
medicines that cure. the sanitary meas
ures that prevent disease, the delicate
instruments, the anaesthetics, hospit-
ais for the sick in body and asylums
for the sick in mind, and the under
standing what they are all for and
how best to use them, are the result
of thousands of years of study, inves-
tigatio land experiment by the men
and women of this, the most useful
and hnnnpa a1n ~ on
trades.
The modern hospital is one express
sion of the cooperative principle that
two can do a thing better than one,
and that the more there are to help
the easier for the individual, that is
the handspring of our civilization. Ev-
cry city of any size in Europe or Amer
lea has its hospitals. but very few the
size of Ocala have one doing as good
work as the one our town has possess
ed for the last half a dozen years. 1t
is hardly possible for anyone to whom
it has not been brought home by per-
sonal experience to realize what a
necessary institution a hospital is. The
proper aids to a surgical operation are
not TO be had without delay in even
the most wealthy homes; many can
obtain them only with great difficult
ty; TO very many, indeed, they cannot
be brought at all.
Probably very few institutions have
done as much good in proportion to
their extent as the Marion County Hos
pital. II has always done better work
in proportion TO its means than the
average institution of the kind This
has been due to the medical men of
Ocala and those who have aided them.
Ocala is fortunate in its PHYSICIANS.
No town of its size is better equipped
tpOSSibly none SO welD with men who
combine technicalSskiIl with that I'M
/ derstanding of and sympathy with hui
man nature and suffering, that make
the good physician A wise man once
said that a good doctor is always a
good man. and this is true of Ocala if
II is of any place in the world These
gentlemen. with occasional but not
very systematic. help from others.
have carried on this institution for sev-
eral years. and have done a great deal
of good with il. Its advantages are OBJ
yiOus. The doctor can give his patient
closer attention: be can conduct a diff
! ficult operation with better chance of
success than he can at the ordinary
! home. and the patient is under the
care of trained nurses. kind and in
telligent women. who possess the
knowledge as well As The will TO see
that the doctors work is not undone