The Washington times., 1905-04-23
CONDITIONS At
WASHINGTON ASYLUM
Evidence of improvement
Under Supt. Zinkhan.
DIFFICULTIES OF SYSTEM
Much Gained From the Consumptive
Tents-Seventeen Patients at
This Time.

own. here's a little fellow you can take
tc get you into the egg rolling at the
White House, Monday
And Superintendent L. F. Zinkhan, of
the Washington Asylum, pointed out
little pickaninny a nurse held aloft fot
the benefit of a Times reporter. HIS
face was contorted into one big pucker-'
the pickaninny's face, not Mr.. link
hans nor the reporters.
Isn't he cute? Just too cunning for
anything?" asked the nurse. The scribe
admitted it. Then he took another look
and said ne didn't care to see the egg
rolling.
Tour of Inspection.
After hasty glances at more thumb
size pieces of humanity, Mr.. Zinkhan
and his companion passed from the
maternity ward of the hospital on
tour OF inspection. There is not q nook
or a corner of the buildings or grounds
of the Washington Asylum that does
not present evidences of improvement
during the last year and less.
Mr. Zinkhan's incumbency began only
last June Even under the huge dis
advantages existing in the three-cor-
nered institution known as the asylum,
the results of good administration are
everywhere evident.
The hospital, workhouse, and asylum
buildings are scattered over reservation
Is in such helter-skelter manner it
would seem that the employees them
selves must carry a pocket map to find
their way about the grounds. The
structures have been erected from time
to time with a lack of system that is
quite curious in its effect
From the cots of the infants, the
newspaper man and his guide proceed
ed into the larger hospital wards. past
long rows of suffering humanity, at
tended by white-aproned nurses. and
made as comfortable as modern hospital
methods can accomplish Everything
was clean and orderly. Mr.. Zinkhan
claims for his institution as well ap-
pointed and we'll conducted free wards
as any hospital in the city.
Consumptive Tents.
In front of the consumptive tents the
visitor is introduced to the first and
most beneficial innovation of the new
regime at the asylum The superin-
teadent's fresh-air cure for consump-
tives has proved its efficiency.
There are now four of these wards
two for colored patients and two for
white. One tent is modelled after those
in use On BlackweITs island, New York
TIRE isi-,l e9er.ea h1 the s.-l11rn is or,er
on one side only.
In these sheds, which are well rooted
and walled on three sides, seventeen
patients are now living in the open air
day and night. With the proper heat
it was possible to keep these wards oc-
cupied during some Of the coldest days
of winter. Confirmed consumptives are
steadily increasing their weight under
this treatment.
On warm, sunny day, if one strolls
through the grounds of the asylum, he
viii see the long, covered porches con-
meeting the various wards of the hos
pital filled with patients fairly drink
ing in the sunshine. Those able to walk
make their way alone
Hundreds Of sufferers are wheeled to
the porches on -leasant days, some
in chairs and some In the beds them
selves, providing they are unable to sit
up. Fresh air is feature of the treat
ment at the municipal hospital.
These porches, as well as the stone
walks around the grounds are the work
of the new superintendent In previous
one ward to another exposed to all
kinds of weather The wards are all
In separate buildings, grouped together.
Workhouse Patients Isolated.
A mistaken impression dwells in nnany,
minds that the charity patients treated
al the Washington Asylum are mixed
with such inmates as may be confined
In the hospital. This is not So
There is a separate ward in the re-
ceiving house for mental suspects and
convicted criminals. It was through a
window of one of the little rooms in
this ward that the prisoner Gassaway.
who was not as sick as he pretended to
be. escaped by means of strips of a
sheet from his bed a short time ago.
Strait-1ackets and other means of
detention are often applied here neces-
sarily. Almshouse patients are treated
IN the charity wards.
Ahe location of the three institutions
On the same grounds under one man
agement prevents the best administra-
ton. This will some day be remedied
The new alnshouse, which. by the way.
will hereafter be called the Old Folks
Home, is being constructed on Giesboro
Point
The District already has a site for a
municipal almshouse on Seventh street
and hopes some day to see the insti-
tuition q reality. This will leave only
the new workhouse one wing of which
Is already in use. while two more wings
and an administration building are con-
templated.
The present system is cumbersome in
the extreme. The difficulty of guarding
the workhouse prisoners is doubled by
the host of small buildings The grounds
themselves have never been lighted, but
Mr.. Zinkhan has now placed naphtha
lamps which will soon be in use
Female Attendants.
He has introduced a change In the
female workhouse, where the inmates
are now locked up and unlocked and at
tended in everything by female attend
ants instead of men. In the almshouse
the inmates are now divided between
the two buildings according to sex. not
as before according to color. One end
Of each building is given up to colored
and the other TO white people however
Mr.. Zinkhan has arranged a series of
entertainments for the benefit of his
charges. The talent for these affairs is
always furnished from the city. In the