New-York tribune., 1903-03-09
CONTAGTON HOSPITALS.
DR.. LEDERLE'S PLANS.
Deplorable Condition of Present
Provisions.


city. The deplorable condition of North Brother
Island and the wholly inadequate provisions for
the care Of patients DR.. Lederle proposes to
overcome by the expenditure OF $2,OOO,OOO
within three years OF this sum $750.0O0 has
already been appropriated.
The plot where the first building will be
erected has long been occupied by the Street
Cleaning Department for the storage of carts
and sweepers. and is not situated so as to make
such hospital detrimental to public health.
Scarlet fever patients will be cared for there.
and it will hold 225 persons.
Manhattan has only Willard Parker Hospital
for diphtheria patients. Reception Hospital
and the hospitals North Brother Island. The
first two at SiXteenth-st. and the East River.
The Kingston Avenue Hospital, in Brooklyn,
provides for patients from Kings and Queens.
In DR.. Lederle's plan every borough will be
able to care for its own contagious cases. On
North Brother Island there twelve small
buildings, each hospital, but their condition
may be partly imagined by glance at pictures
Of two Of the buildings
Green lawns shrubs, trees scattered around,
hedges, flower beds and all the grounds well
kept the sight that met the eye Of the
traveller passing Up the river a few years ago,
but the deterioration of the island was rapid.
Not only the conditions bad on the outside.
but the buildings themselves old and badly
they are in such state that it is impossible to
keep them clean.
DR.. Lederle talked to Tribune reporter about
his plan and described the present evils in con-
nection with caring for patients. He also told
about his first visit TO the Island and the con-
diton in which he found it.
Picture to yourself he said. "an agonized
mother standing the street staring through
iron barred fence while her child is being
"a bor
rough IN aspect. and clothed from head to foot
in q rubber suit. He carries the child from the
reception hospital down through the yard to the
steamboat, which the mother knows is to take
her child to North Brother Island. She calls
1T pest house. and the stigma has been more
or less deserved What hope has that mother
OF seeing her child again. exposed. i'll 1t is.
to the rtgors Of long trip by water? What
laws of humanity empower to take a sick
child from its mother and place it island
miles from her home where, until recently. all
visiting forhdden?"
ASK your physician what is likely TO happen
to patient sick with scarlet fever who is carted
in an ambulance a cold winters day from The
Bronx to hospital the extreme end of
Brooklyn That is just what happened in this
city last. winter. Also think what would hap
pen to patient sick with measles who is taken
in an ambulance from the Battery to Sixteenth
then by ambulance again to Il pavilion utterly
unfit for the reception of the sick. a patient
who is subjected TO such abuse has little chance
for life.
'On my first visit to the hospitals North
Brother Island l inspected a large building over
crowded with scarlet fever patients. and another
full of smallpox patients The laster fall
ing from the walls and ceiling; the pavilions
were deficient in ventilation; they had proper
sanitary appliances: they were mere shells.
which it was almost impossible to heat.
reciaIly when. as at the time of my visit. there
TWO feet Of snow or the ground outside
They were drear places. with no privacy; Yet
there way of getting in communication
with the resident physician in an emergency
except by sending from this or that one of the
pavilion; scattered over the thirteen acres of
island. Conditions were so wretChed and the
outlook had that I Immediately determined
that 1 would put before the municipal govern
rnent and the people of this city the extreme
and urgent needs Of contagious disease
hospitals
IF our appeal for help had not been answered
as soon as made / should not now he here, as
Commissioner Of Health, tell Of the condi-
tions No self-respecting man could have re-
manned in office unless his presentation OF the
facts had been followed by an immediate grant
of money. But the money to make beginning
was granted. for il required nothing more than
an appeal to the Mayor and statement of the
facts to the Board Of Estimate and Apporton-
n1ent. This statement was backed up by the
most eminent men in the medical profession-
we are putting every building in the depart
n7ent in thorough repair. and are establish
ing ambulance and disinfecting stations in the
cutIvjne boroughs. The city must spend at
least 50 OOOO 600 upon its contagious diseases hos
nitaI service and even when that is spent
money must be laid aside each year 10 proVloe
for the future growth Of the city. we are lar
behind modern requirements In London more
than IL per cent of the contagious sick are ac-
conmodated. while are oveTcrowded ana
caring for less than 10 per cent
Extraordinary efforts must be made TO raise
the tone Of the service. The hospitals Tor. the
care Of the contagious sick and OF the IN
sane have their women's auxiliaries and the
1ike From, such organizations often than
rot come the help and influence which give the
institutions increased efficiency and strength.
In his endeavor to improve the methods Of
preventing contagfon DR.. Lederle has given spe-
ci3I attention to the medical inspection In pubic
schools This caution is considered the greatest
in nreventing the spread Of any disease.
The government hospital to be built near FL
lis Island will take great burden on the city
authorities as the immigrants suffering from
contagious diseases Will he taken there instead
OF being sent to the city hospitals "here such
patients have been a great burden ..
A great evil that DR. LedeTle proposes 10
laroor,a &c the lack of hospitals for the differ
ent diseases The patients with one uIseaSs
should be isolated from those with anotheI. anu
the number of buildings needed is much slea4'e'
tban the number of diseases, owing TO compilCd-
tons For instance. patient WIN asI, scdt pe ne
fzyer and measles must be separated from one
with scarlet fever and diphtheTia ,a,. tho
Al North Brother Island there are now IN
toIiowtng cases: Measles, %; mumps. :; sifail-