Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-04-15
IS ALL SANITARY
At SANITARIUM2
GIRL PATIENT SAYS WALES IN
SITUATION is FINE PLACE TO
CONTRACT TUBERCULOSIS

SItuti0n at Wales! EdlleHlS VI CouAsO
are fault-fnding. They are sick, nerv-
Gus and distressed, probably hard TO
please; yet a letter from Miss Iva Ber-
key. daughter OF Rev. ]. H. Berkey Of
Monroe, which was sent to a Madison
friend, shows some interesting side
lights on conditions as the writer sees,
them there, Miss Berkey is S10-a-
week patient.
4 ca begin to tell you how il
is" she says; 'it takes so long to
write il; but l do know its not as IL
should be for this sort of a sanitarium
and | told the doctor so. He said he
knew it but when they got it all fin
ished it would be all right. That
won't be for a year or more and OF
course that don't do me any good now.
Our dressing room is anything but
sanitary. Twenty of US dress and
keep our clothes in the same room
It's right off the toilet; and that's
where the bed patients have to eat
too told the doctor I wouldn't eat
in there if l never ate, and he didn't
seem to blame ne. / wasn't able to
go to breakfast the other morning so
vent without it. As far as having
good, Wholesome food is conserved,
there's nothing to it. We have to take
a glass of milk, three times a day,
between meals. As far as the rest is
concerned it's regular hotel style. We
very seldom have fruit, and the meals
aren't good at all, sold, tough meat OF
some description either fixed up with
onions or sour gravy, and 1 can't go
that They have good bread and but
ter and if it wasn't for that l couldn't
eat at all. They have four bed pa
tents and the one on our side has
been in bed five weeks and has only
had two baths and she had to beg for
those. They never get their hair
combed or any thing like that. This
isn't near ALL and l wouldn't have told
you this much if l didn't think it
would be better for me to change; and
of course the sooner do it the better.
1t wouldn't be near the expense and
would be much more pleasant all
around if | could come here after q
year or two then it would be all right,
but l guess I can't wait that long, and
it won't be in running order before
then. l had a talk with the doctor
and told him quite few thing-how
every one Of the patients was disap-
pointed in finding 80 many advanced
cases, ETC.. and he said they didn't
inflna IN 4alyp fhonn oil hof hfrE
Just the same they are here mixed up
with the rest of us and if any one
hasn't it already its an ideal place 10
take it. There is a Miss Sehaer here
from Wausau, a lovely girl. Her
father is the German minister there.
We'll, this girl hasn't tuberculosis.
Her lungs are only weak and she is.
afraid 10 stay. I don't know what she
is going to do.
Il was terribly disappointed in the
place. There are so many incurables
and we are all mixed up together
The beds are all in row and we have
one little dressing room about the size
of our music room for twenty of US
and, mind you, that's where we have
to keep our clothes too. We each
have a little locker not even big en-
ough to hang a skirt, and that's all the
room we have. The bed patients
have to eat there too, and the toilet
and bathroom open right into it
There are only two unframed nurses
and one doctor for fifty patients, and
we never get one bit of attention
We have 10 make our own beds, take
our own temperature four times a
day, run after our own diet three
times besides waiting on other pa
tents who aren't able to wait on them
selves. We aren't supposed to wait
ON each other but you just can't sit
and see somebody die! There aren't
any dishes fixed up for the sicker pa
TENTS Everybody takes the same
hand out, and it's poor at that. We
always have plenty of good milk and
lots of eggs but they aren't always
fresh l won't say anything more
about the place because it won't DO
any good 1t may help me but it's not
what it's cracked up to be and its
awful to have to stay here. The only
| pleasant part of it is the dinningroom-
That's large and very comfortable.
never was so cold in my life as | have
peen here. I just can't get warm but
am looking forward to warm weather.
The doctor has examined me but has
not examined my sputum yet so don't
know whether there are any more
germs or not. If any one hasn't con
sumption this dressing room is a No
1 place TO get it. There is u Mrs.
Santag here from Neilsville Her hus-
band is a druggist She is a lovely
little NJman. The doctor hasn't let
me walk one bit since I've been here.
/ get so tired OF sitting in that old
chair Wei. I must close or my fin
gers viii be frozen.
Since this letter was written Miss
Berkeley has returned to her home at
Monroe. is happy in dooryard tent.
where she sleeps and to be back amid
the cheerful associations Of the family
circle
as IT cANtu NrT re