Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-10-10

less than fifteen patients The first
person to be admitted to the hospital
as a patient was laboring man by
the name of David Jackson, who had
been ailing for some time from a dis
ease of the bone in one of his legs.
The records show that he remained
In the hospital for forty two days and
was discharged then by his physician
as cured.
During the first year eighty-one
patients were treated BY the end Of
the third year this small hospital had
grown SO much in popularity among
our home physicians and the afflicted
as to overtax its capacity and it be-
came necessary for the association to
secure more commodious quarters A
larger building was rented, contain.
ing eleven private rooms and two
large rooms which were utilized as
wards and capable of accommodating
fifteen persons, making a total capa-
city of twenty-six patients, nearly
twice as many as could be cared for
In the former building. Within the
next SOur years this building was
found 60 be too small to meet the de-
mands that were being made upon it.
The association finding that a larger
building must be secured to adequate
ly meet these demands, after careful
consideration determined to erect q
building large enough to meet the
requirements for number of years
to come. The new building erected
by the s.5ociation contains two large
wards, children's ward, and seven
teen private rooms, making total
capacity for fifty patients. Scarcely
three years have passed since the
building was erected and the hospi-
tai is even now often compelled to
turn patients away, many Of whom
are able and willing to rGy for their
care. During the past year they adj
| mitted five hundred and ninety-nine
patients into the hospital, which with
the twenty-seven that held over from
the year before made a total of six
hundred and twenty-six cared for
during the year. In all there has
been treated in the hospital since its
organization more than three thou
sand five hundred cases, to be exact,
three thousand six hundred and forty
six cases.
In looking over the annual reports
as published in the Courier. one IS
very agreeably surprised at the great
amount of charity work that has
been done by and through the hospi-
tai. Nearly twenty-three per cent Of
| the patients have been of this class.
OF this number the county has cared
for two hundred and thirty-six. the
city two hundred and two. and the
hospital three hundred and eighty
three. The total number of hospital
days given to charity is 1880. These
| figures, however, do not include the
| patients who were able to partially
pay for their care.
From the above it will be seen that
work that has been accomplished was
ton, which under existing circum-
stances coould not be avoided even II
it had been desired to do so. This
sarily consumes large per cent of
| LlS uOudIloho d1u VI Ollc AhSoiAO W.
rived from the patients who go there
for care and treatment. And as the
Hospital association cannot refuse to
admit to the hospital an emergency
case sent there by physician as long
as there is vacant bed, 1t ts deserv-
ing of warm commentator and
hearty support from the public rather
than censure and lukewarmness. To
illustrate. take the case Of mon or
women found injured on the railroad
or by some accident on the street, or
alley, or in some manufacturing es.
tablishment, or who have been taken
suddenly Ill while at work.
or on the public highway, the ambu.
lance is called and they are at once
taken to the hospital. With
out waiting to ascertain who
is to pay the bill they are admit
ted, as they should be, and promptly
and properly cared for. Investigation
is now made and it is found that un-
der the existing provisions that they
are not a city or county charge, and
are partly or wholly unable to pay
| for their care and treatment. But
they are already In the hospital, and
have been carefully and tenderly
cared for Under such circumstances
would it be wise, humane or Chris
tian-like to throw them out into the
street in the hope that some good Sa-
marian passing by would take pity
and again place them in the hospital
and become responsible for their
keeping?
pital association for keeping patient
] has been one dollar. siXtY.three and