The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-06-22
TOT STRAPPED TO
BOARDFORMONTHS,
YET He SMILES
Little AIbert's Pitiful Case at N.
J. 0rth0pedic Hospital,
Orange.
BRAVE CHILD TREATED
FOR A CROOKED SPINE
Miss Carrick Tells of Her Visit
to the Growing
Institution.
BY ADELINE STANLEY cARRICK.

go
You'd hardly think It would be A very
lively place, the New Jersey Ortho-
pedic Hospital and D~ispensary, located
at las Scotland street, Orange, would
you, but that just goes to show how
very little you kno about it.
At first, while you are waiting in the
reception room for the matron to come
down and AXE you through the place,
you feel blue, and. o, so sorry for the
poor, deformed little creatures whom
you know are there for treatment.
There is something dreadful about the
very name hospital" You cannot help
associating 1t with all sorts Of suffering.
diseases and death. But this impression
goes, somehow, right out of your mind,
after you have seen the wonder of this
admirable institution, where everyone
is happy because he is sure Of being
made well. It's a lesson In true opti-
mism.
In the first place, its atmosphere is so
very CHEEKY hat patients cannot help
catching 1t. Everywhere there are
roses, daisies n other flowers, in
bowls and vases in almost every room.
Then, everything is white, walls. beds,
chairs. general furnishings, and white
Is always a happy color, If I may call
It a color. Above all, the nurses and
maids know how to smile, and children
cannot be sad for very long at a time
when their elders have UGH funny
faces.
There is little Albert. for instance.
He's suffering from spinal trouble, and
for three months has been strapped to
n board, with head resting on a small
pillow. But does Albert mind? APP
parently not. Every afternoon when
the sun shines Albert is carried out to
the playground back of the house.
Here he is placed on a table, where he
watches the games of the others, who
are more or less hampered themselves.
all of them, with the most contented
face IN the world. Albert is only 3,
hardly old enough to take his troubles
seriously, but just the same he is look
ing forward to the time hen he'll
throw away thai board and be as
straight as anybody.
In the playground there is a good.
big sand-pit, with a fine supply of pals
and shovels and shells and things
which go to make complete the play
time of children. Each youngster has
al Nv 0OA y diia "hiAS IN vi
1t he is so intent upon building a fort,
or a house, or a choo-choo car, better
than that made by his n~eighbor, that
he forgets for a while that his limbs
are not quite as straight or his back
quite as strong as those of the inquisi-
tive, sympathetic children who peek
through the fence,
Just now there are seven patients in
the h0sDita1 which can easily accom-
modate ten or eleven. The ~dispensary
work is carried on Tuesdays and Sat
urdays from 8 until 5 o'clock, with the
surgeon -in-chief, DR.. Robert e. Soule,
of the staff of the New York Ortho-
pedic Hospital, in attendance, assisted
by other doctors and the ,superintend-
ant, Miss Emma III. Mccall, graduate
of the st. Barnabas Training School
Of this city, and former head nurse at
the House of st. Giles. Brooklyn. There
have been as many as eighteen cases
requiring attendance in one afternoon,
and the three tables In the examining
room are frequently taxed beyond their
capacity until a late hour Of the day.
A number of children receiving atten-
ton here have been under treatment
since the opening of the O~rthopedic
Hospital, and their gradual and steady
Improvement is very encouraging to
the t~ireless doctors. Operations, when
needed, are undertaken by previous ap-
pointment during hours set aside for
dispensary work by the staff of the
hospital, assisted by local physicians,
Miss Mccall and an assistant from the
Orange Training School
The operating room is strictly up to