Omaha daily bee., 1910-09-20
Things You Want to Know

The twelfth annual convention Of tn,
American Hospital association meets II
St Louis today for a four-day session
Its president is DIR. II. b. Howard OF Bos
ton. In few other branches Of public &C
| uvity has so much progress been made a,
, In hospital work. Yet there will be many
! problems claiming the attention of the as.
! ISOLATION at this meeting One of thes,
| unsolved questions is that of extendina
charity treatment TO those who need A.
and yet prevent the undeserving from TAX.
ing advantage Of the kindness of the hos.
pital authorities. It frequently has been
found that people have said for treatment
when they really were unable to do so.
because Of their unwillnsness to accent
charity. on the other hand. there are
many who assert they are unable to nav
Tor any portion of their treatment. while
they as matter OF fact, quite able to DO
20.
A few hospitals have charity workers NJ
their own whose duty 1t is to look up tho
financial status OF poor patients Otbor
institutions have used the Associated
CHARITIES and similar organizations for
thls purpose. In this way they hone TO
make 1t possible to give treatment to an
who are in need of it. Under the old
methods the free wards often were crowded
oy those who ought to have been paid
patents thus excluding many who had a
real right to the charity treatment
some OF the progressive hospitals have
adopted the idea OF furnishing semi
private rooms. 1t is declared that the
gulf between the free ward and the
private room has been so great that there
seemed no way of providing for those who
OBJECT TO treatment in the free wards and
yet have not the means to pay for n
private room. The semi-private rooms.
each accommodating from two to three
patients, afford the chief advantages of
private treatment, and at the same time
enable the hospitals to make more rea-
sonable charges. 1t is said that the hos
pltai OF the future will be equipped with
air cooling devices for summer. lust as
they are equipped with heating apparatus
for winter. The present state of mechani-
cal refrigeration is so advanced that there
Is no question in the minds of refrigerating
engineers that this can be done The med
zeal fraternity believes that hundreds of
deaths might have been prevented IL the
unbearable heat OF the summer months
could have been overcome. The fact that
the government is preparing to install an
air cooling plant in the capitol at Wash
ngton shows that such an ARRANGEMENT
s feasible
1t is claimed that the little city of Roches-
err Mimi, has a hospital which draws
'atents from larger section of country,
Lnd which has been visited by more of the
'orlu famous surgeons, than any other
hospital in America. 1t is the St Mary's
hospital founded by the mother superior
Il st. Mary's Convent as a. result of a
ision which she had on the night of a. !
reat tornado, August p, 1883 1t is at this
ospital that the Doctors Mayo do the
YORK which has placed them in the fore l
1ost ranks of the leading surgeons of the 5
World. S
An interesting hospital u1Ditcs tio.i has I
lst made its appearance. 1t is a. directory /
the 5000 institutions of this kind to be d
Dund in the United States. 1t is a 20O-page h
uolicaton, and contains a great variety a
I information concerning the financial as q
ell as other phases of hospital manage d
tent. 1t is estimated that approximately Il
VO'OoOOOO Is invested in hospital property
the United States, most of this amount t
eng represented by the 600 institutions p
hich constitute the membership of the g
merican Hospital association T
The first hospital in the New World was is
established by Cortez in the city of Mexico tt
1924. full hundred years before any So
mi!ar institution was founded In The a
nited States. So firmly were the founda- IA
ons of this institutions laid that the en- re
'wment continues to this day and the nj
'spital is still in operation, presided over re
superior who receives his appointment w
ON a direct descendant of Cortez The ar
nds through which the institution was as
dowed were obtained from revenue of
operty given to Cortez by the Spanish =