Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-23
Plans Being Pushed for Free
Hospital Ship.
ESTIMATED COST. $4,000
Houseboat to Accommodate Ninety
Patients Being Planned.
B0sTON's FLOATING HOSPITAL
Has Been in Operation for Sixteen
Years and Has Saved Many
Hundreds of Lives.

TO provide floating hospital for sick
babies of the poor of the National Capt.
tai is the object of movement inaugu-
rated by DR.. j. Blair Spencer. a local
physician. Several persons who are
charitably inclined have expressed their
interest in the project and their willing
ness to aid the movement; and it is the
hope of the prime mover and his associ-
ates that so much progress will have
been made by fall that the floating baby
hospital will be assured for next summer
For the purchase of a houseboat with
its own power, and to equip it hos
pital for thirty regular patients and sixty
day patients, it is estimated $4,000 will
be required. About $1,000 of that amount
would be used in the purchase of the
boat and the installation of proper pro-
polling machinery. The remainder would
be necessary for the purely hospital
equipment, including cots, medical sup
plies and other necessary articles for
making the patients comfortable and for
curing them of the diseases from which
they are suffering.
High Infant Mortality.
The operation of floating hospital
which would make daily trips down the
Potomac river, is believed to be one of
the best ways of preserving the lives
of babies of the poor during the hot
months of the year The heat mas de-
manded heavy toll among the infants
in Washington homes this summer Up
to August s, according to statements
given out by the local health depart
ment. 126 babies died this summer from
diseases directly due to the intense
heat and the inability of the poor to
NY
fants from the effects of the high tenn
perature by giving them proper food
and plenty of fresh air.
While provision would be made on
the hospital ship mainly for babies who
must be treated for several days be-
fore their strength is regained. there
also would be arrangements to use the
boat to provide outings for the children
of the poor. Every day a limited num-
Der, probably fifty or sixty children.
could be taken on the trip down the
river and back. The nurses on tho
ship could have charge of the young
sters, and this feature alone, 1t Is be-
lieved, will prove an immense boon to
the children of the city who have few
opportunities to get out of the narrow
alleys or off the dusty city streets.
The Boston Hospital Ship.
The hospital ship for Washington, &C
cording to DIR. Spencer will be similar to
that maintained for the poor babies of
Boston. DR.. Spencer was associated with
DIR. John Lovett Morse, the superintend-
ent of the Floating Babies Hospital at
the Hub, and knows the details of Its
operation. The boat there leaves its pier
in the city every morning at O'Clock,
spends the day on the bay in slowly NOV
ing across it's cool surface, and returns to
the pier at 4:30 pm. In the summer of
1908 total of 491 patients were treated
in the hospital and some of the children
were suffering from the severest of dis
eases. The day patients numbered 941
during the same summer.
The Boston Floating Hospital has been
operated for sixteen years. and 1t Is run
on larger scale than the hospital at
Washington would be, at least for the
present.
The results that accrue each season
are SO far reaching and widespread that
it is impossible to set them down in
round numbers" says q statement sent
out by the Boston hospital and received
at the District building. Hundreds of
children who would become permanent in
vaids and dependent on the state are es-
tablished in health through this summer
hospital Hundreds are saved from death.
and mothers by scores are taught simple
laws of health and hygiene. which make
them better mothers. therefore of more
value to the community.
Training for Nurses.
1.-The nurses, who come from all over
the United States to receive the training
and instruction in the care of the young,
which is acknowledged unequaled. go
back in the fall to various posts of duty
with experience that is invaluable in
nursing sick children, whether it be the
offspring of a millionaire babies Just
as poor as those which the Boston Float
| ing Hospital does it's utmost TO coax to
| health.
You only have TO see the long line
of mothers with their children in arms
| eagerly pushing forward to the examine
| ton tables hot summer morning long
before sailing time to have it's need in
| delbly impressed to see them disem-
| bark in the late afternoon with the droop-
| ing, pallid baby of the morning changed
creature. to be convinced of it's benefits.
| You do not, it is true. often see the type
| of baby that you are accustomed to in
your home neighborhood. though never
| is a sick baby turned away. But it is the
| child of the tenement and untoward en-
! vironment who benefits most by this heal
| ing charity, and it is all the more blessed
and deserving because it Is so conscien-
tously confined to the poor