The Washington times., 1915-07-27
Social SerUice Valuable
Adjunct to Hospital Work
Among the Unfortunate
BY DR. LEONARD KEENB H1RsHBERG.
Copyright lsG by Newspaper Feature Service Inc,

IF there Ii any greater defect IN .
hospital than a paucity Of nurses, at
i tendants and food. II Is the lack of
that personal. human interest, which
my old teacher. DR.. Charles p. Emerson.
has tried with difficulty to introduce into
medical work under the name Of ''social
service" He was one Of the first to
recognise that there is 4 service de-
manded by the sick greater than the
technique Of merely accurate facts and
precise. mechanical nursing.
Prof. Emerson began this epoch-mak-
Ink innovation in lSoe at Johns Hopkins.
Students were assigned to families with
the object Of learning their thoughts,
endeavors and activities--the poor man Q
problems ana burdens. as well as the
ical ills and home delinquencies. Each
student remained thus from one to
four years helping solve the difficulties
OF the poor and the incompetent. and /.
personally. witnessed the rise Of one Of
the families assigned to me from abJect
poverty. slovenliness. broken spirit and
a variety Of illnesses, to cleanliness.
aiertness. health. visor and q comfort
able income.
Miss Ida M. Cannon. head worker OF
the social service department Of the
| Massachusetts General Hospital. has
collected considerable evidence Of the
efficacy Of social service work as an
adjunct to the usual medical aids. A
few statements Of these interesting facts
| will serve AZ examples whereby each
| nighborhood can establish q medico-
social service committee wherewith to
| re-enforce the hospitals. the universi-
ties and the specific assaults upon dis.
ease itself.
Organizing . Home.
It IL rather preferable that no medical
man or medical students shall be upon
social service committees. This does
away with possible one-sided sympathies
as well as medical prejudives.
| Miss Cannon emphasizes the fact that
the doors Of institutions swing as cas-
fcials in charge know little as to the
whence or the whittier Of the inmates
journeytngs."
One day there came to her depart
ment a man Of sixty-nine years. who
the doctors said. had chronic heart anc
kidney disorders. The poor fellow de
sired to 60 to the almshouse to end hi
| shattered days.
Hospitals do not take sufferers from
chronic disease. and the man. a mos
inteuigent gentleman. refused to per
NIT his children to have the expense o
He had been q shipbuilder until two
years before. Improvidence and illness
had deprived him Of his little savings
! His wife and two children could not af
ford to support him any longer.
i A social service worker. however
soon arranged the internal difYicultie
Of this home, and the old gentleman re
tained his dignity and received prope
attention without the isolation and col,
comforts Of the poorhouse.
Building Lost Lives.
!. A young man who had been a re
Ipeated backslider as q drunkard
Though large amounts Of money for in
stitutional treatment had impoverishe,
his wife and both sets Of parents, wa
treated once more at a hospital an,
then transferred to a special institu
ton for nearly a year.
After this he was given q position fl
the country. isolated securely from
temptation for another year, and thi
man. after ten years of periodica
drunkenness. has been for some time
sober. efficient professional man witt
the happy prospect Of remaining SO.
As another example Of the good tha
social service accomplishes, Miss Can
non describes one volunteer hospital so
ctal service worker who for seven year
has kept friendly interest In a younl
girl with leprosy. who was snatche,
away from home to be sent an exil
to a leper community. Every Christ
mas. birthday. and between times sh
brightens this child's life with letters
books, papers. and presents.
Hospital nurses or doctors rarely eve
bother themselves with the nature