The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-12-17
LEAH HOME FOR INCURABLES

( accommodate fifteen to twenty pa
tients; the Leahi Home has floor space
for from seventy-five to eighty, though
at present there are only beds for
| sixty.
At the home today there are fifty
three patients, and of these forty-five
are on the free list, only eight pay
! ing for the attention they receive. pa
| tients are accepted in the home from
all grades in life, and sliding scale
is in force whereby the well-to-do can
pay in full for the treatment they re-
/ ceive, others can pay what they can
afford, and the destitute receive identi-
cal treatment at absolutely no cost to
! themselves. No case of sickness
/ which calls for treatment in the hos
pital will be turned away as long as
there is bed for the patient and the
, wherewithal to provide food and me-
dlicine. The utmost indifference is
paid to the race or creed Of the appli-
|
tients in the home during the past
year was in the neighborhood of fifty,
the greatest number being fifty-nine.
| 1t is a noticeable fact that men avail
themselves of the advantages of the
home to a far greater extent than wO-
men-folk OF the fifty-three at pres
ent being succored, there are AZ males
and only five females, and at no time
since the Leahi home has been started
has there been more than eleven wo-
men patients at any one time.
The home is for the relief of tuber-
cular and non-tubercular patients and
on an average there are fifty-five non
tubercular to every forty-five tuber-
cular patients in the hospital. Today
there are 20 tubercular and % non
tubercular cases. At far as the bene-
| fit to the community is concerned,
however, the work done for the tuber-
cular patients is by far the most i'm
portant.
can be no doubt. One has only to
pay the home a visit to be convinced
of this. 1t is an institution which
deserves a far greater measure of pub
lie support than is accorded it today
and it's operations could be extended
! to a far greater extent were there
more public interest manifested in it's
welfare. In order to MAKE an inspec-
ton of the hospital for the purpose of
this article a representative of The
| Star called up Mr.. H. A. Taylor, the
assistant medical attendant and was
at once heartily welcomed. To all
who wish to see for themselves how
the home is conducted the same cor
dial invitation is extended. The work
is all done at the home and the full
est investigation is courted. When
the writer entered the gates of the
institution and passed up the avenue
to the office he was greeted by Mr..
Taylor and taken over the entire
| buildings From the entrance one
reaches the office at the end of the
avenue, shaded by young palms, ban
yam trees, pepper trees and shrubs.
The Office occupies the central por-
lion of a two-storied building, which
extends towards Diamond Head and
Palolo. The hospital buildings are
scattered about in irregular form, but
this very irregularity ensures that
at all times there shall be a plentiful
supply of fresh air, a most important
essential in a home of This nature
! Many of the patients, indeed, live en-
tirely in the open, two wards being
so constructed as to afford shelter
from the sun and rain only, while per-
hitting an interrupted flow of air over
| each bed.
To the left of the entrance is the
public waiting room, and upstairs from
the offices are several rooms for nom
| tubercular patients, rooms which are
roomy and scrupulously clean. The
| spacious lanais command excellent
views of the surrounding country, and
afford the patients ample room for
walking about. 1t might here be men,
toned that whenever possible the pa
tients are permitted to roam at will
about the premises, keeping of course,
to their own wards, for the tubercular
patients are not allowed to mix with
the non tubercular. The separation
of these patients, one from the other;
is one of the most important features
OF the home. The food supplied to
the tubercular patients is cooked in
one kitchen and the food for the rest
of the patients in another kitchen sit
uated in an entirely different portion
of the grounds. The tubercular pa
tients each receive their food on a
special tray which is used for no one
else; the fork, plate, cup, etc, used by