Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-07-27
THE fine SANTA
RUM At 0AkDALE
Comparatively Little Known by Pub
lie About This Splendid
Institution.

3 concerning the state institution TO-
, the treatment Of tuberculosis a
Oakdale. Few have been sent to the
sanitarium from this vicinity ant
too little is published concerning
this splendid hospital for the treat
ment OF the white plague.
Oakdale is six miles out from
Iowa City and is easily reached also
from Cedar Rapids at any hour OF
the day or evening. 1t is a little
village by itself as no one except pa
tients and those connected with the
institution live there. The state
owns a farm of PIG acres, through
which the interurban runs, the de-
pot being within a stones throw of
the main building and patients
quarters. This aloofness is accent
uated by the rule which is in force,
restricting the going to town to only
those for whom it is absolutely nee
essary. However, the patients one
sees while going through on the
cars are so healthy looking on the
average that few people realize that
they are really seeing the patients
themselves, and contrary to the pre-
vious belief Of many visitors, the in
stitution is not the awful place that
might be expected, but place where
one hears less coughing, sees less
distress and gloom than would be
expected if not, indeed, much less
than in the average village Of the
same size. They have their own cleo
trio light plant, institutional laun-
works, and there are machine shops,
painters and carpenters shops. On
the farm there is kept considerable
stock to make the farm work profit
able as we'll as ministrative to their
needs. Hogs and sheep are kept in
addition to the ordinary farm ami
mails and a small poultry farm is a
necessity. The Holstein herd mum
bers over 60 animals and there are
the usual barns and sheds, togeth-
er with fine modern cement dairy
barn with silos and rooms for TAX
ing care Of milk in the most sanitary
manner possible. At present forty
cows are being MIXED and coo
pounds OF milk are daily used. In
addition to the buildings already
mentioned is the administration
building, which contains the main
dining room, recreation rooms, Of
fees, etc. There is an employees
building fitted up nicely where en-
ployes can be off by themselves when
not on duty and be as much at home
as possible with their own dining
room, library, recreation room, bill
/ lard room, etc. There are at the
sanitarium three physicians. and an
inferno, and at present eleven nurses
and pupil nurses. The patients
quarters consist of two long pavil-
lions with separate rooms for two
patients each, and porches in front
on which the patients sleep the year
round. There are also seven cot
tages fitted for different grades of
patients and also provided with
porches for outdoor sleeping. This
arrangement allows them to group
the patients and place cOngenial as
sociates together. They have a lit
tie fresh air school building but on
account Of having no special quar-
tiers for children as they, should
have, they can admit but few of
them and at present there are not
enough to make a school possible.
The capacity Of this sanitarium
has on account Of the new hospital
building been increased from 1875 to
100. A great many people have an
idea that this new building is a.
home for incurables. This is not so
meant. A great many cases come to
the sanitarium which are durable
and need only proper care, rest and
diet to not only get back their
health, but also their good feelings
and healthy looks. Previous to the
building of the new hospitals it was
rare to have over 20 per cent of in
cipients in the sanitarium, notwith-
standing the fact that such cases
We're the ones the. institution was
established to take care of. 1t is
hard to convince people that they
have tuberculosis until they are past
the early stage. In reality there |
We're always more of the third stage
or far advanced cases received, and
the great bulk of the cases were of
the medium grade or moderately ad-
vanced ones.
glance at the last biennial re-
port shows that 597 cases were re-
ceived, and $50 were discharged