The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-01-15

lar vote on the proposition and how
II had succeeded He thought, as did
the others present, that the project
would be In danger OF being voted
down by lie Sueur county II some
thing was not done to make the
people realize what the project really
meant
A lie Sueur county delegate stated
that the commissioners OF that county
would meet ON the fifteenth OF Janu.I
airy and suggested that both DR..
Schmitt and DR. II. NJ. Bracken. sec.
rotary OF the state board of health.
address the lie Sueur county CON-
missioners on that day on the hos
pital project. Dr. Schmitt said he
would go and he also said he would
try to get DIR. Bracken TO be there
too.
Figured Out the Cost.
] Chairman Jackson remarked that
state authorities had figured out the
average cost of maintaining each pa
tient in the county sanitariums at $40
per week. For such patients rs could
not pay for their care, the state
would pay So per week. The other So
would be paid ny the county In which
the patient lived.
/ DIR. A. F. Schmitt sought to inn
press on the commissioners that one
county alone could not afford to es-
tablish and maintain such a sanitarl
um as was needed. Let several coun-
/ ties get together, and the thing
could be done right. The right kind
, OF superintendent could be hired To-
take care of Il. He also declared that
tuberculosis was n contagious disease
and the proper way to stamp 1t out
was to segregate the victims.
Dr. ii. NJ. Bracken, secretary of the
state board of health, who was pres
ent during the early part of the meet
ing, laid stress on the fact that Min
nesota was taking better care OF the
health of its hogs than for tie health
of its people. BE a hog and you
. viii be well cared for" said he. He
observed that about tenth OF the
deaths that occurred in the state OF
Minnesota or about 2,2O0 annually
were from tuberculosis.
Had Had Survey.
DIR. Bracken' called to mind that
the state board of health had had a
survey made of Blue Earth county
with view to ascertaining how many
cases of tuberculosis there were i'm
this county. II was discovered that
there were about ninety. Conditions
were found I'm other counties as bad
as Blue Earth. To handle the disease
was a public question. II was for the
sake OF, the community and not for
certain individuals that the state was
giving its aid TO this movement
to stamp out the disease.
There are two things" said the
doctor, schools and good roads, that
get money from the state 10 beat the
band, but the health question goes to
the damnition bow-wows'' h
DIR. J. w. Andrews said he wished
to consider the question from an
economic point of view. He declared
that the establishment of the county
sanitarium would make great diff
ference in the county treasury In five
years time. The county would have
to take care of the poor consumptives
anyhow. There were ninety-two pa.
tients. in the county, ready to COM
municate the disease to others.
''lf you will unite and put up this
Cn mi tar itt urfl tr,I
your counties and 1t will save scores
of lives" said the doctor. $50 il is
your duty to act at once and to
act with yigor."
Mayor A. G. Meyer heartily en-.
dorsed the idea OF Joint county
sanitarium lie said he believed that
one OF his sons had contracted the
disease by contact with another wlro
was afflicted with H. lie said he
believed the proper way 10 take care
of tuberculosis patients was By segre-
cation. r
DIR. U. NJ. Haugen of Fergus Falls !
gave an account of tho establishment
and operation OF the Ottertail county
tuberculosis sanitarium. He regretted
that Ottertail county had not united
with other counties round it and un-
dertaken the sanitarinm project on
u larger scale Tie establishment of
that sanitarium had cost about 1884,.
000
Where Mistake Had Been Made.
DR.. Haugen said mistake had
been made i'm locating the sanitarium
1t was too difficult to reach. A tn
berculosis sanitarlum should be
placed where people could get at It,
The Otter Tail couny sanitarinm had
been built on tract OF sixty acres
that had been bought for IT, Hell
advised the commissioners to get a.
good big piece of land when they es-
tablislied their sanitarium.
The doctor laid great deal OF
stress ON the question of overhead /
expense" This was about the same,
whether there were few or many pa
tients at the hospital lie showed how
eleven patients had cost $213 apiece
per day; seventeen. SLAB; nineteen,
$1.3S, and twenty.three. $1.21. He said
the county charged its own people
81 per week per patient but those