The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-21
Showing overcrowded conditions tuberculosis Department Met
ropotan Hospital.

shacks tightly closed and he states In
his report that the air within could
hardly have been fouler IL the building
had been Theoretically sealed. Ventila-
ton in these fresh air shacks has been
considerably improved under the direct
supervision OF the Commissioner. Or
ders have been given to open all the
windows and doors, thus providing for
the free play of fresh air through these
shacks.
Even worse conditions were discov-
cred in the Kings County Hospital. In
this old building not only are beds
crowded side by side in dar.s, dingy
wards, in which the sunlight never
enters. and not only are the halls and
the corridors crowded with sick people
for whom there are no beds but. ac-
cording to the Commissioners report
these people were found to be sleeping
on the floor in some cases with hard
mattresses, in other instances with no
mattresses at all. Sick men were dis
covered with no other bed than two
chairs and with nothing to soften the
edges OF the chairs but a single thin
blanket, in some cases using the arm or
wooden bench for a pillow.
Commissioner kingsbury has trans
ferred the General Medical Superintend-
ent from Manhattan to set right the
matters needing administrative control
in the Kings County Hospital. In his
report, however, he states that the most
serious conditions in this hospital can
be corrected only by the substitution OF
new building for the old one.
The report on the Cumberland Street
Hospital reads as follows:
1T is n mild statement to say that
the conditions found in Cumberland
Street Hospital are a disgrace to the
city of New York. Men with fractured
legs in casts were sleeping on the floor
on mattresses which admittedly had
been several years condemned and
through which In numerous spots the
floors could be sounded. One man with
q broken leg, discovered at o'clock In
the morning, had been sitting In a chair
since 3 A. NJ because he could not
endure lying on the condemned mattress
which occupied the narrow space on the
| floor between two ward BEDS
To correct the appalling situation re-
vealed In the Cumberland Street Hos
pital. the designations OF the superin-
| tendent and the superintendent OF the
| Training School for Nurses We're Sc
! cured by Commissioner Kingsbury. The
matron has also resigned, and. new
acting superintendent has been APP
pointed. The necessity for a new build
| ing at this institution to replace the
present one is urgently recommended.
The most serious and shocking condi-
lions Of overcrowding were found In
the Municipal Lodging House at 432
| East Twenty-ffth street. which cares
for homeless men and women. The
entire institution was honeycombed
with petty graft. as stated in the re-
port.
During early January over 1000 mer
each night were packed on the floors
Of the saloon decks Of the departments
steamboats,. Men were also packed In
the waiting rooms and on the floors OF
the prison pens on the Twenty-sixth
street block. and on some occasions on
the chapel floor of the morgue. They
were provided with inadequate anc
poorly prepared food. The food has
now been improved by the addition OF
a thick soup for the evening meal.
The heavy pressure upon the Munich
pal Lodging House was relieved by
fitting up the recreation pier at the
foot of East Twenty-fourth street as ar
annex, providing therein 600 cots. This
pier was transformed into a dormitory
and turned over to the department
fitted. equipped and opened for lodgeri
in a period Of i've days. BY substitute