The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-04
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS
Connecticut Doctor of Consunp
 tiveS.
By Stephen J. Maher, M.D., Qn Yale Medical Iournall


 By Stephen J. Maher MD
 Qn Yale Medical JournaI) It is now nearly five years since 1 this supposedly conservative old state 1 of ours expressed a willingness to do everything in her power to protect | of contracting consumption and to | help her consum ptive citizens in their hard hhG It flght feE go life What a can d95 3 Governor referred the question to a Commission of Investigation. 'Estab- | fish state sanatoria'' this Commission l different centers of population, and make them available for consumptives l poverty, nor wealth, nor race, nor col or, be a bar to admission"
 This advice the State decided to fol- | low. And a consequence she has in the last two sessions of the legisla- | ture, appropriated a total of more than half a millio ndollars and has done | and is doing, a great new work in a l great new way.
 As her humble representative I woud like today to tell you somewhat l sketchily what have been the results of the sacrifices she has so gener- ously made in her new role of specia- l list in tuberculosis.
 One between Shelton and Bridgeport | for Fairfield County; one outside of Hartford, for Hartford County; and one outside of Meriden for New Ha- ven County. Each sanatorium is cap | able of accommodating about one hun l dTed patients. The general plans of | all three sanatoria are very much alike. They consist first, of infirrn- | ary building, in which all the very sick are cared for; and, second, of | two or more shacks in which the pa tients who are without fever, and who are not bleeding, sleep; third, build
 lg nd the d,9ig For 4he tPa l housing of the staff and servants.
 At last years session of the legisla-
 ture the Tuberculosis Commission was I empowered to biuld two more sana- | toria,-one in New London County, and one in Middlesex County. The 1 Commission is at work on these two T As we are discussing the State as | a doctor of tuberculosis. it will be
 many patients she has; second, what | her practice pays or costs; third, l what is her treatment, and fourth, what are the results of her treatment. 1 Ffrst-There are more than one hundred patients in each of the sana- 1 toria at Hartford and Meriden. and atorium at Shelton. ~ In all three sana- l toria there are more patients now | than ever before. In other words, the States practice is growing. From the beginning there have been more pa ltients at the Meriden institution than ' at either of the other two. This was due to variuos causes, among them
 the fact that it situated in the
 most populoUs county, and that many , of the institutional problems met in l the other counties had already been solved here by the logical society that
 had been conducting a. small tuberculo-
 sis home on the site now occupied by
 The Hartford institution has had a
 good many setbacks but it is now thriving; Soon after it was opened.
 the water supply which was from
 wells, found to be inadequate. And Sc serious did the situation be-
 come that it was necessary to trans frr a1~T1v +I,o | Meriden institution. That difficulty i has now been overcome at a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars. by mak- ing connection with the distant Hart
 ford city water system.
 The Fairfield County Sanatorium
 seems, from the very beginning to | have encountered some antagonism on f the part of union labor, well on
 the part Of some of the physicians of the county. Lately, however, there e are signs that all classes in the county
 are observing sympathetically the nu- doubtedly good work that has been n done at this institution
 Second-IncOme-The State shows = one necessary qualification for a good n doctor. In this matter of treating the tuberculous, she is not a good busi- l ness man, nor good business woman. Every one Of her three hundred pa tients costs her six dollars week :, more than her fee. In other words
 her net loss of her practice is eighteen hundred ($1, ,8OO) dollars a week, o1
 ninety-three thousand six hundred l (S95,oOO) dOlldrS a year. And tnIS Is outside of her original investments for = lands and buildings and other equip
 mert. Only a doctor with big purse l. as well as a big heart. could conduct = such a practice as that.
 Treatment-Living in the - open air day and night and taking e plenty of food, are. of course, in g
 general way, the main lines of treat y ment at the state sanatoria. As tc F minor details, they may be sumnar-
 fzed as follows: Except for glandulai l. and bone tuberculosis, tuberculin is if not used The superintendents are - warned against using opiates of any a kind except in extreme cases. In the , | beginning there was perhaps too naucf " latitude given the nurses in the mat. < phine or codein or heroin to patient: u who not only exhaust themselves, bu r keep their neighbors awake with {
 night cough, is often very hard to re e sist.
 q Just now the practice concerning tht
 use Of acohol and tobacco is in tran l, sition stage. In the first year sont
 of the Superintendents gave an occa,
 sional drink of whiskey to men Whos' d craving for this stimulant was so vi . 0Ient as apparently to interfere witt l. their chances of improvement, and t. l. make them grumbling disturbers o
 the institution. In the beginning, tn e smoking of tobacco was strictly for 'e bidden; but as a large proportion 0
 the male patients were past middl y age and had been for a score or nor
 years addicted to smoking, and it wa
 found that permission to smoke IT cigar or couple of pipefuls of tobac
 co a day added greatly to their peac
 of mind and body, and apparentl y did them no harm. a cretain amour
 of discretion was allowed the super1n ie tendents in this matter The givin of whjsksK1 except for urgent car