The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-13
Godfrey, of Tuberculosis Commission, Lauds Work.
 of the Visiting Nurses.
(continued from Page 5.o

brated English physician (Jenner) took hold of the problem and by segregation and vaccination, stopped a disease which was deciEnating cities. eventually small-pox will be stamped out and utterly unknown and yet no one has discovered the smallpox bac- terium. How much better off we are in tuberculosis. We have discovered the bacillus. We know what will kill it. We have even not attempted segregation. Our scientists are study ing the action of this bacillus and are on the eve of success. It is up to us to do the rest
 What Connecticut Is Doing.
 The state of Connecticut has gan- the use of tuberculosis patients, situ- ated in Norwich, Hartford, Meriden and Shelton. Less than six years have elapsed since the beginning of this expenditure by our state and the results obtained have been very sat- isfactory. An average of five hun dred patients are now being treated. many have returned home cured, having been taught how to take care of themselves and families, and oth- CTS rendered more comfortable dur ing the ravages of this dreadful dis ease.
 'eThe state commissioners have ex- amined and signed two thousand seven hundred and forty bills for food and supplies during the past fiscal year They have installed refrigerat- ing plants rendering possible a suf11- cient supply of ice and pure food. while the milk is tested for quality and bacteria Resulting from the anti-tuberculesis campaign, we now see cleaner houses. cleaner streets, cleaner public conveyances. Do you not remember how difficult 1t was to A zfII1g raj qjTsS where the floor was not filthy from the splitting habit? Do. you not agree then that the cam paign for the sale of Red Cross Christmas Seals un- dertaken by the state comnissi oners, and exciting renewed attention and interest in every city, town ana hamlet in Connecticut, will have ben eficial results? Does not all of this account for the reduction in the death rate from twelve and six, tenths per cent. to- eight and one-ten h per cent. in thirty years?
 .sIn the report of the Governor of Connecticut, October, 1918; by Stephen J. MaheF, M. D. we learn that in Germapx with Il seventy million people, 1he state es tpends less although ev1Fy one knows that they have the L4rgest. most expensive and mum erous sanatoria building The reason for this is that the tubercu- losis buildings are erected by the German insurance societies. No workman receiving less than $1,0o0.00 is employed unless he has three kinds of nsurance-one-third by his em- ployer, one-third by himself, and one-third by the state. This has made the German insurance compa- nies very wealthy, and they quickly found that it was money saved to. build handsome buildings in order to attract the tuberculosis patients, to teach them how to care for them selves and others. and to prevent the infection of the other members of their families, and thns save expense We also learn that while Germany leads in the beauty and costliness of her buildings, Connecticut has better facilities for curing her sick, as the German .sanatoria. have no provi- sions for outdoor sleeping or living. At night their patients are wheeled into the buildings. and only during certain portions of the day and dur ing fair weather are they allowed out side.
 What Connections should Do.
 Many things as yet need to be taken care of. In trying to keep the statutes governing the administration as simple as possible, some difficult problems have been presented. some of which we are taking up with the general assembly which is now in session at Hartford. For example, the commissioner of the state have no police power over refractory or inebriate patients, with the result that there are often difficult prob Iens thrust on the missi oners. sOf course. the result to say the least, is excitement, and excitement as you know, is very bad for this class of patients. When we discharge the troublesome individual, the law pre- h iS {nu 1z11i ira Iii in the almshouse. and there is no place in the world for him to go, with the result that the commissioners are usually influenced through sentiment, to allow him to re-enter some one of our sanatorio under rigid restrictions.
 There is another bad feature about eases of this character. They lower the tone of the institution There are very few people who wish to be placed in the ward with pa- tients with these habits. and the re- sulting reputation does not do the sanatoria justice, We have introduce ed 9 bill remedying this defect so that we can properly take care of these eases, and trust it will pass the gen 1 eral assembly,, this being one of the and which the Senli frightened people of the state will slowly but surely remedy.
 t'The building of these sanatoria is only a part of the problem. There should be systematic co-operation of all the practical agencies instru- mental in Stamping out this disease.
 A central dispensary in the more
 thiclxly settled districts should be in- stalled. Tuberculosis trained nurses l should be engaged in connection with
 these dispensaries. In one of the cen
 tra1 agencies proper facilities should
 be prepared for accurate diagnostic
 work, also home visitation by the
 trained nurses with it's consequent
 educational work and such records
 of the subsequent histories of arrest
 ed eases as Dr. Lyman has done so
 admirably with his Gaylord Farm pa | tients. Also social care, with it's pro-
 vision of proper food, light. air and clothing; proper housing and condi-
 tions of labor. with means of caring
 for families while the bread winner