New-York tribune., 1907-09-01
SCENES in SAD BLOCK.
Where Free Medical Treatment Is
GiUen to Poor of Ne1g York.

Oxer one million persons ntfmber equal to
about one-fourth total population of the city.
receive medical attention each year at the dispen-
saries and public clinics of the metropolis Thess
Institutions give every year about three million
.raatroents or in other words. have a broad
enough scope of service to give medical aid To
three out of every four inhabitants OF the city
The annual number of prescriptions given away IS
about 2,5000O0-
This great number of persons who fall sick and
cannot take care Of themselves is a pitiful out
growth of the strenuousness of metropolitan ITO.
in which the alert. the more careless. or the
persons with physical mental handicaps. fall 50
hopeIessly behind In the crowded tenement dis
tricts of the city there are thousands OF families
which can manage to exc out a livelihood so lonS
as everything goes smoothly with them, but
soon as the money is consumed for medicins
they are compelled to turn to the public charity
Probably the most typical we'll the largest
of clinics for free medical treatment is that con-
Quoted By the University and Bellevue Hospital
Medical College. which is the medical school OF
New York University. 26th street and First
avenue in the heart Of the polysot Gas HOUSE
district Last year the clinic handled S4.S5S cases.
and the number is now averaging S,oOO month
The Gas House" district is one of the parts Of
the town which UP to a years ago retained I
population OF decidedly Irish complexion. but Of las
the GaeIs have been forced out by the overwlelm-
ing incursion of Italians and Jews from Tire lower
East Side This TO clinic fewer broken
bones and battered faces and more eye, and
throat troubles
The medical school with it's spacious laboratories
and halls. and It's great clinic. is situated
at the head Of what has been called the saddesr
block in the land. On the opposite side Of the
street is Bellevue. the big free hospital OF the city,
constantly crowded with thousand patients
and Offering wealth of clinical material for ths
students of the school Further down the street
the Morgue. and on the river front are the Offices
of the Department Of Charities. from which boats
are constantly departing crowded with drunken
persons petty criminals bound for the work
house BlackwelIs Island. OF with the ptrable
fOtsam and Ietsam OF society that drift 70 ths
public aimshouse. A stranger who strolled into
the block would get the impression that ne hal
found the gateway of all the sorrows OF America
II is a sad procession that moves in and out OF
the clinic every while the doors open, b.
tween the hours Of 10 and o'clock There ara
little children some of them covered with sores.
aand many OF them suffering from diseases chill
dren should know; old women scarcely
able 20 tOtter OUT from their squald rooms %
the place where the free doctors huge
truckmen IongshOremen who swagser in with
cuts or bruises probably received in brawi
fran young women ALREADY paIpably marked for
consumption, the white plague Of the tenements;
drunken men. VINO have been beaten by
their husbands. and all the various types % human
Illness and disease
Ragged clothes are the rule on ne part OF those
who come 10 the clinic for treatment Put on
clothes for the free Doctor is maxim the
Gas House District but most OF the patients do
nO- have to dress for the part. Their working
clothes are often their only ones. and these are
sufficiently ragged to enlist sympaJhv-
As the patients enter tire spacious waiting room
of the clinic. they to the receiving desk wler-
they tell their symptoms kindly faced man.
who has the faculty of taking personal interest
in the unprepOssessing and receive numbered
cards to the physicians different depart
| ments- Their they take seats on the rows OF
benches assigned TO the different classes OF us
and wait until their number is called and the ply
sician is ready for them
To the stray observer the pitifuIIy detected
pearance OF the straggins line chat moves to the
desk Is heightened by the sHnpses OF white clad.
alert physicians nurses. busting in and out OF
the
The first person on the line - a burly trucknan.
who displays a lcerated hand. which he says.
has Just been bitten by horse
How did you happen To get Oitteu2'' is asked
Il slammed horse in The mouth hs says.
apclogeucally.
fran little woman with a chalk white faas
follows mods the attendant as she gets her
ticket for medical treatment
Both she and her husband are consurnp5tvs-'
he saws. They have eight children already. ana
are likely to have as many more
y Irishman with cut finger is next in line
Il got the in the Philippine he says from
which I'm just getting back. after getting dis
charge from the army i guess l got some lnfec-
tion in il the ship
Then comes a woman with badly barrersd aead
and face. She had fan she says. though the
attendant. who knows the personal history OF
many OF the patients. j. aware that this Gction
IS used to protect her husband who has been beat
INK her Tenement wives he explains. Do not de-
nOunce their husbands in public. and. indeed, Il is
against the ethics Of the Gas House District ID
"sQueaI' any 4 policeman tells "a story
of two truckmen who got into a pitched battle
and finally. after they had worked the fighting
fever of both went amica5Iy into the clinic Ia :
gether be patched up One explained that he
had been hit by falling BEAM and the other
said he had tumbied OF his wagon.
About the only patients who give trouble. accord
ing to the physicians are who drunk
They are quarresone sometimes and bad Ian
guase. But for the part the patients display
both fortitude and gratitude The children are
often particularly brave and submit to long ard
painful examinations without a whimpsr- ms
has been especially noticeable in the OPhthslrt-
logical rooms when the children with csses
of trachcms and conjunctivits. prevalent in the
tenements
Monday is the most crowded day In the clinic.
possibly because many OF the less frugal Of the
population have a habit Of staying away fro'a
work that day from sunday Tuesday
is the Iightest day OF the week Many OF tle pa-
tients insist upon getting particular physicians ~
attend them. and they try to avoid the physicians
who have large classes OF students and are N
cIined 10 lecture unusual About nse
hundred students benefit by the clinical practice
In tne winter enough remain in the summer
to make the great clinic a valuable asset Of me
school throughout the year.
A SOURCE OF THE SERVANT EVIL.
where do the Astors. Vanderbilts and otnsf