The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-06-01

patients VIII be in charge OF attend
ants IN the shop as t.cy are now when
idling in the wards
Division OF Patients.
Or Williams founG Oh his recent
visit 10 hospitals tor l1o insane in
. several states i at ii was a universal
rule 10 give patients employment
which wou.d divert them.
Carrying cut tle new polio: OF en-
ploying patients about The plant wnen
it was possible to do so, Or. Williams
has discharked all but ten OF tie paid
laundry women at the hospital ana put
patients in the places Of the others.
In a s.. .ort time these will be dismissed.
There were 43 employees in the laun-
dry, drawing a total of $669.5O in sal
! ary every month and doing work which
is done just as efficiently by patients.
| TIE patients do the work in the laun-
dry gladly and we'll. The only paid
employees there now, besides the 10
Lloundresses, are the mechanical en-
gineer and two people to check the
cIoU-es when they come in and go
out. The same policy has been car
ried out in otner departments and pa
tients have supplanted paid employees,
The same system of employing pa
tients r.as also been adopted on the
farm connected with the hospital. The
patients are sent out in details Of 10
or II in charge Of attendants. They
seem to enjoy the farm work. A rad
ical change I as also been made. in
the kind Of crops grown on the nos
pital farm. Heretofore it has been
devoted largely to the production OF
staple crops. Now it will be devoted
to growing truck crops witch will be
used to feed tle patients. T. a.
Brown. an experienced truck grower,
of Beaufort, has been made manager
of the farm. He has good crop OF
Tegetables under way, all Of which will
go to the patients tables. The bulk
CT e vegetables used at the hospital
have been purchased for years past.
More Attention.
"The voluntary work of the patients
| in tie shop, in the laundry, on the
farm and on the grounds means a say
ing in money for the hospital" said
Dr.. Williams yesterday "The money
saved in this way will be used to in
crease the efficiency Of the hospital
and to enable it to treat the patients
more effectively. For instance, the
number of nurses and attendants has
| been increased. The basis Of attend
dance for the future at the hospital
is one nurse or attendant to 10 or II
patients. TIE number of patients in
charge of nurse or attendant will de-
pend, of course, on the condition OF
tre patients, the worse off they are the
fewer the number to be assigned to
one attendant. Comparatively few
nurses or attendants are needed by
the chronically insane, while acute
cases need close and constant atten-
ton
DR.. Williams, is devoting most of his
attention just at present to working
out system of daily reports from
every branch of the hospital which
will enable him to know exactly what
is taking place. TIE institution is be-
ing diveded into departments, the
heads of which are directly responsl-
BILE to DR.. Williams. With a good sys-
tenn of daily reports, DR.. Williams will
be able to give everybody any informa-
ton they require about the State hos
pital with minimum of time and ef-
fort.
Dr.. Williams thinks that there are
between 200 and 800 patients in the
hospital who are not insane and
whose mental condition is such that
they could be cared for in county
almshouses, if they have no homes or
relatives. Most of these people are
we'll advanced in years. Their minds
are dimmed, but they are not insane
and have not place in the State Hos
! pital for the Insane. 1t will be i'm
possible to tell how many of the LOO
! inmates of the asylum are not insane
until the examination of patients is
completed by tie new staff.
Pellagrin Problem.
DR.. Williams said yesterday that one
of the greatest problems confronting
the management of the hospital now
! voc +o ouard against the admission