Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-04-12
Social Leaders Saving Beevues Convaescen from the Scrap ea

cleaned windows or pleasing picture chahse
dependency into hope and courage, means arg
provided for cleaning the windows or securing
the picture. But. never has a step oeen TAKEN
toward pauperism Never Is the patient per.
mitted to lose his self-respect. 1t Is unoerwtooo
that loans VIII be made and they are III IS the
social service idea to introduce not only inc
idea OF self-help, but little OF the beauty OF
life Sometimes all a sick soul needs Is 10 De
led away from the contemplation Of the soro!d'
ness Of life and to dwell upon It's beauty ".
James Alexander Miller said that for this work
practical idealists are needed. we nave tneu
in our volunteers.
TO meet these aims there is the Day Camp
an old ferryboat anchored in the East River
Just off the hospital grounds; the children
Garden, which is a beauty spot In the corner OF
the hospital grounds; intensive class work
with small groups for home treatment dolna
away with the crowding Of clinics; the mothers
classes in Italian and German held weekly by
a supervising nurse; the weekly evening confer
ences for working men.
In the mere matter of civic economy the wors
of the Volunteers, in purse and personal min
istration, saves the city many thousands year
man is turned out Of the hospital and told II
come back three times week to have his
wounds dressed" That Is, he must come bach
and wait in line for two hours, perhaps, for hi
turn to come in a crowded clinic. If he were
able to work, what job could he get that woulo
admit of practically three halliday absences
week? And where is he to sleep and eat until
him for night or two. but the beds and board
at the lodging house do not tend to build up
a broken body. How can he help going from
bad to worse? We have vagrant In the max
ing.
Or by and by, we get him back with an IN
fected or tubercular wound. No one wants to
see him come back to the hospital. He is no
longer an interesting case. The chances are
that he will become public charge for the rest
Of his days because of the lack or little cars
n a time
Let me cite one case typical of hundreds
which the Social Service has aided The pa
tent was a decent, Woodworking young fellow.
When he was dismissed with the discouraging
Come every other day to be treated" fortu-
nately there was the Social Service office wait
ing for him. Being without funds, home or
friends in this country, his case required tbs
kind OF adjustment in which the Social Service
movement desires to be expert 1t sent him to
n convalesCent home and when he left 1t thor
oighly well, it secured him work as an assist
ant to one Of his own countrymen. He learned
English, prOspered, and paid a recent visit to
the office to tell US Of the good Job he had and
show US his bank book. 1t had a balance oil
$780,
woman came to the dispensary for treat
ment The physician in charge said her life
could be saved only by operation. I shall
never forget the drawn, wretched face as sha
told us her story. Her husband had been killed
in a street accident the year before. By days
work and the help Of a ffteen-year-old boy she
managed to keep the family together. since her
strength failed she could do less than before
There were six children IL she came to the
hospital for an operation they would have to go
TO institutions. No, she would struggle on a
little longer
The Social Service relieved her mind by prom
Using to place the two younger ones with an
aunt. The boy, aged fifteen, and oldest daugh-
ter. aged thirteen, could be depended upon to
look after the others A relief society agreed to
pay the rent MS long as necessary. A woman
was engaged to spend three half days a week
overseeing the housekeeping, and nurse would
cab often enough to make sure that all was
going we'll
Next day the mother entered the hospital
Her case was very serious. She scarcely sur
vived the operation. At the end of the three
weeks she left the hospital and was taken to a
cOnvaleScent home where 1t required nearly
month to repair the starved nerves and body
but when she did return to her family she was
indeed a woman A few months afterward
her suit against the railroad company for dam.
ages for her husbands death was settled at $50
n month for twenty months Had It not been
for the Social Service work at Bellevue the
woman would have gone to her home that day
and she would have stayed there until she w8s
carried forth to Potter's Field. Public institu-
tions would be caring for her six children There
is a case in point Of economy to the CITY
In a sentence, Social Service does for the ma .
tiPnt in Bellevue and Its allied hospitals Ford
ham, Gouverneurs and Harlem what the Priq-
oners Aid does for the discharged convict II
gives him a needed chance. 1t might antIv no
called Patients Aid