The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1913-07-17
THE CHILD'S THE THING
George ". Sweney's Plan to Give Grip
pIed Children New Lives for Old.

NEWTON A. FUEssLE, in The Mediator:
Crippled and deformed children are all
but ignored, despite the growing wave OF
activity on behalf of the conservation of
human resources in this country. Yet here
is a phase of modern life, involving an
enormous economic waste, which should
not longer be overlooked. There is for
lorn army of deformed children in the
United States, broken: spirited and hopeless,
which, under the present system can look
forward to being nothing but an economic
burden to the community.
George w. sweeney, of Marion, o., is
the author of a notable plan for nation
wide string of pedatrc hospitals for the
correction of the deformities of crippled
children of poor parentage. For nearly
twenty years he has devoted himself to the
care and feeding of infants, and lecturing
to nurses, covering territory ranging
from Rochester, New York, to Montgom-
cry, Alabama. This work has brought
him into close contact with the deplorable
lack of facilities for the correction of de-
formites.
Minnesota was the first state to make
even a start in this work. New York and
states the efforts have been merely desul-
tory, while west of Minneapolis and south
of Baltimore there is said to be at the pres
ent time no system whatever of comprehen-
sive nature for the care and treatment of
such children.
The plan which Mr.. Sweeney is promot-
ing, and which is meeting with enthusiastic
cooperation, provides for the establish
ment of at least one such hospital for every
state. They are to be non-political and
non-sectarian in control. Each is to have
two directors from every accredited medi-
cal college in the state, and every alumnus
of each college is to have one vote for such
directors. Thus the vital interest and CO.
operation of every physician in the state
will be insured, ranging from the cities to
the remotest CROSSROADS.
1t is estimated that funds aggregating
500, 900, 900 will be required to provide and
maintain adequate hospital facilities for the
correction of the deformities of such child
rem. The astonishing success through
orthopedic surgery in curing and improv-
ing deformities of children has hitherto
been confined almost entirely to those
parents able to pay for the long and pa
tient treatment necessary. The plan of
Mr.. sweeney will bring such aid within
reach of the poorest.
tuberculosis of bones and joints is COM
mon in children, and treatment generally
must cover a year or more. The vital i'm
portance of institutions where this work
can be carried on is apparent to every ply
sician who makes the rounds of charity
families. Yet hardly anywhere are means
provided for the care, nursing, feeding,
and operations upon such sufferers. Very
few general hospitals are provided with
orthopedic equipment.
A large percentage of such cases show
the deformities to be due to tuberculosis,
and are often contagious. AT Minnesota S
State Hospital for INDECENT, Crippled, and
Deformed Children, founded in 1897,
three -fourths of the cases treated are tuber-
culous diseases of joints. Yet children
thus afflicted, in nearly every locality, GO
on their crutches to public schools, and ex-
l. Il 1o <ho
tagion.
These deformities are not, as generally
supposed, largely hereditary. Over IS pei
cent are caused by diseases contracted by
the child itself, rather than being hered-
itary, present at birth, or the result of ar
injury. A child with such a deformity
may readily transmit it to Others, accord
ing to the report of the New York Ortho-
pedic Dispensary and Hospital.
This is phase of the subject of crippled
and deformed children which seems to be
largely ignored by public authorities. Or
the one hand is the menace to their com
panions in allowing these children to 60 te
public schools or remain in their homes
and on the other hand, one perceives thu
terrific injustice to the deformed child itsel
by neglecting to provide hospital facilitie
for its restoration to normal, or at least th'
amelioration of its troubles.
The astonishing prevalence of deformet
children, and the menace of contagion t.