The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-07-16
st. Nary's, Catholic Institution,
Only Place Available for Hun
dreds of City and Char
ity Patients
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES
SPREAD THROUGH WARDS
Demented, Alcoholic and Other
Dangerous Patients Must BE
Kept With COnvalescents

When each weekend comes and
goes. with its big grist of accidents,
10 say nothing OF the cases in which
strangers in the city, unidentified
persons, and emergency cases col
lapse or the streets, the general pub
lc. if 1t pays any attention To the
cases al al, reads: Taken to the
hospital" and lets it go at that
Usually, such emergency cases go
TO ST. Mary's hospital, which is tina
nearest thing TO regular city hos
pital" that Detroit. with its hundreds
and thousands OF new" and, there
fore, unsettled population. can boast.
How the scores and scores Of sick
and manned persons who are poured
in ceaseless stream into this or that
hospital. are cared for. is one prob
lem that is given no attention, either
by the general public. or the legisla-
tive city bodies which shonld be in
terested
The poor commission and The city
physicians office. vitality interested in
the problem, are keenly alive 10 a
problem that confronts Detroit at this
minute, with no steps taken TO rem
edy the situation.
St Marys hospital is crowded with
patients TO a point where efficiency
and even safety, are endangered
Four and five beds are placed in
single" rooms, meant to accommo-
date only one patient Every avail
able inch in the wards" is used for
bed or cot room. Even the halls are
filed with cots and every cot and
bed in the institution has its occu-
pant. As liie-and-death cases are
brought in. patients with fractures
and other injuries that will permit
them to be moved, are routed out 10
make the necessary room The hos
pital authorities dislike 10 do ". The
doctors in attendance sometimes act
against their own judgment in max
ing such shifts. but some place has
got TO be made for the manned.
mangled or critically i'll persons who
happen 70 be in Detroit when mis-
fortune overtakes them.
Every bed in the second floor medi-
cal ward Is filed Six more beds
than the regular quota have been
placed there, and two cots are crowd
ed into remaining spaces Six cots
are placed in the hall each cot with
n sufferer I'm il.
All OF the porches around the rear
court. meant as recreation places for
those who are convalescipg. and
necessary adjunct to any hospital,
have been enclosed and made into
extra hospital rooms, where five. six
and seven patients lie in beds placed
so closely together that it is difficult
for the attending nurse to perform
her duties.
Sixteen beds in the second floor
surgical ward make that ward sadly
Congested, and here, too, one finds
the ever-present cots in the hall
a room on the main or Office floor.
has been converted into an emer.
gency ward, and here are five beds in
a space meant for one
In the basement. known as St Vim
cents ward. and originally intended
only for alcoholic. demented, and
other patients where restraint was
necessary. there is a conglomeration
Of patients running from men with
fractured arms, to men raving in de-
lir!um
There are 10 beds in the small room
known as the regular ward. and out
in the hall are seven cots. with par
alytic cases fracture cases and eases
of sudden sickness.
Two OF the cots in the hall contain
patients suffering from erysipelas, a
communicable disease that is barred
at all other hospitals in the city.
There are II surgical cases in ST
Vincent'S ward.
With the upper porches being util-
lied for patients, convalescents are
now taken TO the hospital yard for
their fresh air and necessary change
of scene. It Is a cumbersome pro
ceding. al times, and not too safe
for the patient.
Dr. George LAWN, in charge OF hos
pital inspection for the city physi-
clans office and the poor commission.
ushered a Times reporter through the
institution. and declared that condi.
tions as seen were daily growing
worse instead Of better as the city
grows in population: as accidents be.
come more and more frequent, and as
the unattached" population. without
home to which they may be sent i'm
case of illness or accident, grows
larger
Every other hospital in the city is
filled TO capacity, and there have been
frequent instances where emergency
cases have been turned away.